


Unconscious Consequence

by MindKnox



Series: The Book Of Turbulence [4]
Category: Life Is Strange (Video Game), Life Is Strange 2 (Video Game), Night In The Woods (Video Game), Oxenfree (Video Game), Super Mario Bros. (Video Games), Tell Me Why (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Badass Victoria Chase, Canon-Typical Violence, Crossover, Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, Inspired by Legion (TV), Life is Strange-centric, Light Angst, Mild Language, Mind Manipulation, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Not Really Character Death, Post-Canon, Post-Parting Ways Ending, Post-Save Chloe Price Ending, Rachel Amber Lives, Rescue Missions, She's Also Sorta Evil In This Fic, Supernatural Elements, The Astral Plane, Trans Female Character, Tulpas, Various Video Game References and Cameos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:40:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 27,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26053591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MindKnox/pseuds/MindKnox
Summary: The line between the waking world and the subconscious world begins to blur as the Black Goat enacts her plot to rule the Earth's inhabitants. And after being brought into the Black Goat's realm, Victoria Chase and her friends are tasked with one objective: SURVIVE.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Caulfield & Victoria Chase, Victoria Chase & Jessica, Victoria Chase & Taylor Christensen & Courtney Wagner
Series: The Book Of Turbulence [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1863685
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. A Dream Come True

**Author's Note:**

> Previously in the Book of Turbulence...
> 
> A birthday party was held for dear Victoria Chase,  
> But when two intruders barged in demanding unjust money,  
> Vic and her friend Jess paid them in prompt fists to the face.  
> In their wake, they were left two new little friends,  
> while away to prison the villains were sent.
> 
> Young Mae Borowski was taken in dreams to another dimension,  
> leaving Pastor Kate Marsh and Dana Ward to make haste for the Neon Sun.  
> They were attacked by demons, working for one Black Goat,  
> and met with an old friends who had assumed a new form as one.  
> After saving the young girl and evading capture, Marsh and Ward had just as abruptly eloped.
> 
> But Mae's survival and rescue left the Black Goat spiteful and enraged,  
> so under moonlight, upon the Witching Hour, her plot had once more engaged.  
> Travelling by waves, breeze and pathways, the Dream Demons marched along,  
> awakening the dreaming Old Man so he could sing his luring song,  
> with it he captured several hundred/thousand unsuspecting sleepers,  
> and now his masters seek to hunt for targets a little deeper.
> 
> But the Chimera, the women who waved Kate and Dana hello,  
> must seek and rescue Victoria from her own bed in Seattle...
> 
> For she is their friend, and Max's, and many more,  
> and she must be awakened from her slumber,  
> if the world as she knows it is to survive another day longer....

The streets of Seattle are still cloaked in darkness. The skies are brightening up, a dark blue acting as a prelude to the morning. And it serves as the ideal cover for the Chimera to enter their destination - the Chase Space - almost undetected.

But they aren’t as sneaky as they hoped they would be.

Thankfully, the only people who heard them are the two guests of the Chase Space: the two impish creatures referred to as “Red” and “Green”. After the Party Parents were taken into custody by the Federal Bureau of Control - which is “apparently a thing now", as Victoria and Jessica both put it - the two little guys were allowed to stay with them as they had nowhere else to go and a very little grasp on annunciation in their current diminutive states. Thankfully, the Chimera knows just what the two Brothers need if they want to get back to speaking at a more-understandable speed.

Red pokes his head out of the kitchen, with the slightly taller Green following right behind him. “Izzayou!”, Red calls out, quietly enough so as to not wake everyone else up.

The Chimera bends down and pats the two on the head. “It’s-a us, boys.” Looking around at the still and quiet Gallery, they ask, “Is Victoria here?”

Green nods his head, “Ofacoursesheis! Upadastairs!” He also asks, “Didayoubringademushrooms?”

A smile forms on the Chimera’s face. “Sure did. Go crazy with them.” They pull out two mushrooms - their caps red with white spots - and hand one each to the duo. They giddily take it and march back into the kitchen. Amidst the steam of good cooking, mushroom omelettes await.

They walk up the stairs to the bedrooms - that much they remember from their last visit - and quietly walk past one bedroom. It’s not Victoria’s, but instead Jessica’s bedroom. She sleeps peacefully, with a smile on her face.

She dreams of her lost friends - the late Mr. and Mrs. Chase - and what Seattle would be like if they were still here. She knows they’d be proud of their daughter’s growth, and how well she’s handled the Gallery in their absence. But she fears she’ll never know in this lifetime.

The Chimera remember her, vaguely, but they do remember her. She was very sweet to them as esteemed guests, and even sweeter to Victoria despite her bitchiness; though even then, they could tell she was letting her guard down around Jessica and acting like a decent human being too.

The Chimera looks to Victoria’s bedroom, but sees that the bathroom to their right is occupied. And in it is Victoria. She’s sitting in the bathtub, idly resting her head back. Her eyes remain closed as she is trying to catch just a few more seconds of shut-eye.

Unfortunately, the nightmares just keep coming for her. Granted, they’ve gotten less intrusive with the help of therapy and the passage of time, but the pain still lingers. The pain of being drugged, kidnapped, tormented. The pain of being betrayed by someone she deemed her best friend. The pain of surviving the Storm from Nowhere and having to bury her lost loved ones (or whatever was left of them).

The Chimera ponders what comes next, anxious of this reunion. “Should we go in or something?”

They drop their face into one of their palms as they realize just how awkward that would be. “Uh. No?”

As they stand around, tapping at their chin, Victoria seemingly awakens. “Who’s there?”, she asks while looking at the door from inside the tub.

The Chimera whisper to themselves, “I guess that crosses ‘waking her up’ off the checklist… What are we supposed to say?”

“Try ‘sayonara’”, Jessica says as she swings a baseball bat she’s procured at the Chimera’s head. However, it swings right through their head instead of colliding with it, much to Jessica’s dismay. “That was supposed to work.”

The Chimera opts to shrug their shoulders and wave at the woman. “Hi, Jessica!”, they say with a smile.

Jessica raises an eyebrow and asks, “How do you know me?”

“We met a few years ago! I’m Taylor! And also Courtney! Remember?” They wave their hands with a smile on their faces, which only serves to freak Jessica out further. Still, she keeps something of a brave face on her tired face.

From inside the bathroom, Victoria spitefully declares, “Bullshit. They’re dead! I saw it!” She sighs to herself, remembering the aftermath of the Storm once more.

The Chimera shrugs their shoulders and scratches at the back of their neck. “It’s complicated. But what’s important is that we’re back!”

A silence befalls the hallway before Victoria asks, “Jessica, can you do whatever you did before, but again?”

Jessica rolls her eyes and asks her, “Would you maybe like to help?”

Another brief silence follows, but it is swiftly interrupted by the bathroom door opening rapidly. “Gladly.”, Victoria answers, now dressed in her pajamas. She rushes the Chimera and wraps her arms around their stomach in an attempt to knock them to the ground. However, they fail to fall.

Instead, the Chimera just chuckles. “So you’re flying first-class. How very ‘you’, Vic.” They promptly pull out an old-looking handheld radio, and start tuning it. A triangular vortex forms on the floor beneath the three, and the Chimera calls out, “Mario, Luigi! You guys ready?”

From downstairs, they answer, “Yes-a, we are!”

“Then come on up here!” Quickly, the two Brothers - having grown in stature - perform a long jump up the stairs. The Chimera smiles at the two and tells them, “Lookin’ good, buddies. Okay, here we go!”

Both Victoria and Jessica don’t know what to do in response to the appearance of these strange characters, or this strange portal.

But whatever it is, it’s too late. They descend into the portal, with the Chimera and the Brothers following right behind them. The fall is almost blinding as it assaults the eyes of Victoria and Jessica with light and colors beyond imagination.

And yet, they see it all as clear as a dream.

* * *

Victoria opens her eyes and wakes up, having felt like she just fell from a very high place. She quickly catches her breath as she looks at her surroundings: verdant fields spanning across a vast expanse. In the distance, she can see mountains and cities faded in grayness.

Nearby, she can see her dear friend Jessica, lying on the grassy grounds as well. She calls out to her before rising to her feet. She finally approaches her and shakes her awake, asking, “Are you okay?”

Jessica groans before nodding her head, “Yeah… but this doesn’t look like Seattle.”

“It’s not, but that’s okay.”, says the Chimera as they gently float down to the ground. The Brothers follow, landing right beside her. “You’re safe with us, here on the Astral Plane. Come.” “Now that we’re home, we can just…”

The Chimera splits apart, from one person to two; from “Chimera” to “Courtney Wagner and Taylor Christensen”. They stretch their limbs and each take a breath of fresh astral essence. “Oh, that feels better. No offense, Sweet-T.”

Taylor laughs and asks, with arms crossed, “Why would I be offended?”

Victoria is dumbfounded at the sight, which by all explanation shouldn’t be possible. She shivers, as if seeing a ghost, and remarks, ”You two look just like them… You even sound like them.” She scoffs at the crazy idea - not that she’s unfamiliar with crazy with it being 2020 and all. “But last I checked, Taylor and Courtney are… They’re dead. What is-”

“We want to keep you safe, Vic.” Courtney offers Victoria a smile and explains, “We’re sorry. We should’ve showed up earlier… A LOT earlier. But we didn’t have a lot of time to even do that much then. This was our only chance to save you.”

Victoria turns her back on both Courtney and Taylor, feeling rage build up in her bones. “And it only took you how long?”

“Six years. Eleven months. One Day. About forty minutes.” Shocked, Victoria looks at Taylor in disbelief at the accuracy of her answer, give or take a few minutes. “We missed you. We really have.”

“That’d be…” _Some time after the End of the World Party wrapped up. While she was being driven to what she thought would be going to the Everyday Heroes Victory Celebration with… HIM._ “Shit.”

Taylor walks over to her and places a hand on Victoria’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Vic.”

“To think, that fucking Dark Room saved me.” She sighs, hating to remember even a second of that experience. And yet, she’s just thankful to have her old high school friends back. “Well, what were you saving us from?”

“The Black Goat: a Mistress of Nightmares. Well, not completely her, but she and her allies are planning something big, and deep within are spirits set on hurting you.”

Victoria looks at Courtney as she explains, gently nodding her head as she sees the worry on her face. “I can tell you’re being serious. Both of you.”

“We wouldn’t be bringing you and Jessica here if it wasn’t.”, says Taylor.

Courtney skips over to the two and tells them, “Let’s just get inside. Maybe Alex is home.” The three walk to Jessica and the Brothers, who follow right beside them as they head to the front door.

Jessica asks Victoria, “Who’s Alex?”, thinking she’s perhaps another one of her old Vortex Club pals.

Victoria shrugs but Taylor answers, “A friend of ours. She’s fun, you’ll like her.” As she opens the front door, she adds, “Oh, and I guess now’s a good time to get to know the Brothers too.”

The two Brothers salute, and Luigi says, “Hello-a, Miss Victoria and Miss Jessica! Now, we can-a talk to you!”

Jessica shakes her head in shock, asking, “This WHOLE time, you two were-”

“Mario and Luigi!” The two jump up and down in place for a few seconds before running inside.

Victoria sighs and remarks, “I need a drink.” Jessica can only roll her eyes at Victoria’s exasperation at the whole ordeal, though she gets how she’s feeling.

Taylor laughs and informs her, “We’ve got everything you dream of. Literally.” Upon entering, she looks around and asks, “Alex! You home?”

No response. Courtney shrugs her shoulders and concludes, “I guess she’s not here.”

“What does she do?”, asks Jessica.

Courtney explains to her, “She uses radios to open portals and travel between dimensions. It’s not perfect, but it’s functional.”

“It’s how we brought you here. With this little doohickey.” Taylor shows off the handheld radio she and Courtney used, which looks rather unremarkable.

“Nice.” Victoria says, though she doesn’t understand how it could conceivably work. “Kind of a strange question, but does Max know her?”

“Alex says she met her and Chloe while they were in Alberta, fighting wendigos. But she didn’t stick around for too long. Busy with other stuff.”

Victoria clears her throat and asks, “Wait, you know about Max’s… gift?”

Taylor and Courtney look at each other and answer at the same time, “More or less.”

Courtney explains, “The exact science escapes us. Personally, we wish she used it to save us, but we get it. Time travel isn't easy.” The two lead Victoria and Jessica to the dining room. “Have a seat. And a drink.”

Awaiting them are two seats and two empty cups. By the table is a window with a view, gazing out at the great green fields beyond. Far out in the distance, a storm is approaching.

After taking a seat with Jessica, Victoria asks, “Do I just think one up?” And to her heart’s desire, wine fills up her cup. “Hell yeah.”

Jessica crosses her arms and asks, “It’s a little early for that, isn’t it?”

Victoria shrugs her shoulders and claims, “We’re in a dream dimension. How drunk can I get on imaginary wine?”

Taylor informs her, “About as drunk as you get on normal wine. Hey, maybe we can get some of your old drunk standup routine!”

Jessica asks, “What’s that?” Quietly, Victoria starts to shake her head at her old Vortex Club friends. She’d really rather it stay buried in the past.

Seeing her reaction, Courtney only tells her, “A term we made up back in Blackwell. Really lit up the mood at our parties.”

Jessica understands rather quickly and starts to giggle, much to Victoria’s embarrassment. “I vaguely remember… I’ll just settle on orange juice then.” The wine transforms into orange juice, and Victoria takes a sip. _Actually tastes like it_. “You got anything to eat?”

“Sure! Which would you prefer?” Taylor and Courtney each hold up a plate full of delicious breakfast foods: scrambled eggs with sausage links on one, and french toast drizzled in syrup and butter on the other.

Victoria makes her choice: “I’d like both.” Jessica raises an eyebrow, prompting her to explain with a smile, “What? I’m hungry.”

Jessica continues to giggle and tells Courtney with a sincere grin, “I’d like just the french toast please.”


	2. Hunting Grounds

The Sun, once beaming down on the grassy fields, has become obscured under the snowy shadow of a blizzard. In the whiteout, the howling winds whistle. It is a lure, operating in tandem with the Mad Hunter stalking unseen.

His prey - the abducted denizens of Beaver Creek - walk blind through the snowstorm, incapable of seeing the Hunter or his affiliates prowling. They are unfamiliar with this new world, this dream dimension, and are therefore easy targets.

One such target trudges through the snow, her bad leg not doing her any favors. She struggles against the harsh winds and can barely stand. But still, she keeps on pushing. She can’t let those creeps out there catch up. Even if it feels like they’re only a few feet behind her…

But alas, doorsteps! The target pulls herself up the stairs, coughing as the cold begins to freeze her lungs. She has to keep going.

The lights are on inside as she can see through the front door. She can’t let her hunter kill her. She won’t let them succeed.

Slowly, she raises a fist up to the door, feeling the frost solidify along her limbs. _It’s now or never!_

* * *

Sleeping on the couch, Victoria takes a nap, snoring as she does so. With every exhale, a goldfish pops out of her mouth. They swim over her face, occasionally trying to nibble at her face to no avail. But suddenly, she is awoken by the sound of banging on the front door. She answers, “I’m coming!”

After taking a few seconds to get up and open it, she jolts at the sight of the frozen stranger laying on the porch. “Oh God!” Quickly, Victoria drags her inside and closes the door right after.

The target lays on the floor, letting the cold that nearly consumed her melt away. “Where are we?”, she asks, her face still frozen in fear.

“That’s a good question.”, Victoria answers with a little bit of snark in her tone.

Unfortunately, the target has no time for humor and asks again, “Where are we?!”

Victoria internally kicks herself and tells her, “I-I don’t know!”

Jessica also comes downstairs, along with Courtney and Taylor, to ask, “What’s wrong, Victoria?”

Taylor says to their esteemed guests, “Let me through.” Both she and Courtney sit with the target and comfortingly tell her, “It’s okay. You’re on the Astral Plane.”

Still shivering, the target shouts, “What happened to Beaver Creek?!”

Courtney answers with a hand on this new guest’s shoulder, “The Black Goat happened. Follow me.” As she and Taylor help her to her feet, she says to Victoria and Jessica, “Hey, grab some blankets for our guest please.” Just as quickly as they are asked, the duo rush upstairs to get what they must.

* * *

“Am I dead?”, asks the target, sitting by the living room’s fireplace, wrapped up in blankets.

Jessica shakes her head and informs her, “No. You’re alive and well. Just tell us what happened.”

The target - Melanie’s her name - speaks of a flash of light in the dead of night. She was awake at the time, having dealt with insomnia for much of her adult life, when she saw strange creatures - like ancient whales and unnatural humanoid beings - approach the local Hospital in the center of town when that flash of light struck.

Before she realized it, she was caught up in a snowstorm. It didn’t feel cold at first, until she realized how lost she truly was. And it was in this confusion when she saw a stranger lurking in obscurity. The rotund creature with a grin as wide as his wrinkled, tar-colored face. The one they called the Mad Hunter.

“They”, in question, were what Melaine saw to be a small girl with antlers sprouting from her head, and a tall robed figure with a staff in hand. Both were leading the Hunter’s prizes along through the weather, to some shadowy place beyond it all.

Fortunately, she escaped with her life to this lovely house. As Melanie finishes the story, Courtney tells her, “Thank you for telling us all this.”

After sipping on some hot cocoa, Melanie asks the group, “Is there someone who can save them?”

Victoria quickly comes up with an idea and shares it: “I think I know someone who can.” She looks over to Taylor and asks, “Uh, is there connection in this dimension?”

She shakes her head and tells her, “No. But you can use the house phone.” Both she and Courtney point to a red phone sitting on a table outside of the kitchen.

Victoria quickly steps over to it and picks up the phone. She dials a number into it, one that she knows well in times of crisis.

Max promptly answers on the other line, and behind her can be heard the sounds of people chattering and vehicles clattering. “Hey, Victoria. What’s up?”

“So… this is gonna sound crazy, but I’m on the Astral Plane with Jessica.”

Max sighs from the other side and asks, “Damn, the bastards already got Seattle?”

“What?”, Victoria asks in a brief moment of shock.

“Nothing, uh- Are you two alright?”

Victoria nods her head and tells her, “We’re fine. But there are a lot of people who got taken from-”

“Beaver Creek?”

“Mhm.”

“Are they alright too?”

“Not sure. It sounds like they were being hunted by some guy called the Mad Hunter. Do you know anything about that?”

“I have a friend who does.”, Max says with an unseen smirk.

“Good. Great! … Is there any way you and Chloe can just come into this dimension and help us more directly?”

“Not exactly- or we don’t know how to get there yet, but we’ll see what we can do. Thank you, Victoria.”

Victoria shakes her head with a smile and responds, “No, Max, thank you.”, before hanging up with hope in her heart. She returns to the living room and says, “We’ve got my friend Max working on it.”

As Jessica lets out a sigh of relief, Melanie can only ask, “Is she coming?” Victoria’s regretful silence answers her question: “I take it, that's a no.”

Victoria attempts to reassure her, “She’s trying, okay?”

“We need to save those people now!”, Melanie demands as she rises from her feet, though both Taylor and Courtney help to keep her calm with their hands on her shoulders.

Victoria shrugs her shoulders and tells her, “I’d prefer leaving this to the professionals… Wait, are the Brothers busy?”

The two Brothers enter the living room, and Melanie almost wonders if she’s hallucinating video game characters now. But seeing as Victoria just called them in herself, she exclaims, “That’ll work!”

Although smiling, Jessica asks rather doubtfully, “Would it really? I mean, no offense but they’re not exactly skilled in this sort of adventure.”

The Brothers both look at her and laugh among each other. Mario explains, “We’ve-a done much more than you’d-a think, Miss Jessica!”

Victoria plants her hands on her hips and asks Jessica, “Are you saying we should all go then?”

She itches at the back of her scalp and tells Victoria, “Someone has to look after all the people we’ll be picking up… Should this be a successful mission.”

Victoria looks at Courtney and Taylor, hoping they’ll come with her. Instead, they tell her in unison, “It’d be better if we were here. Same with Jessica.” Victoria can agree with them on that. “The storm also seems to be dissipating.”, they say as, from what they can see out the window, the snowfall has slowed to a crawl and the skies have started to clear up.

Victoria sighs, almost playfully, as she thinks about and immediately states her response: “Then… I guess I’m going on an adventure with the Mario Brothers.”

* * *

Bundled up in thick jackets, gloves and boots, Victoria and the Brothers step out through the front door to the wintery wonderland awaiting them; what was once a rich green is now fresh with snow.

While the three slowly step off the porch to avoid slipping, Jessica waves them farewell for now: “Good luck out there!”

Victoria waves back, though she wonders where her Vortex Club friends are if not waving with Jessica. “So where should we be headed?”

“According to-a the map, the towns-a-people were-a located down South.”, Luigi states with said map in his grip.

Mario adds with a pointed finger forward, “And according to-a Melanie, the people were-a taken further that-a way too.”

Victoria nods her head and remarks, “Good, good. Let’s also hope we don’t run into that Mad Hunter.”

The Brothers let out a hearty laugh together and Mario reassures her, “No need to worry about-a him, Miss Victoria. We’ve beaten bigger and-a badder guys!”

And so, proudly, the trio march onward through the lengthy expanses of snow to the shadowy hospital in the distance that awaits them…


	3. The Institution of Fear

Dark spines crafted from brick pierce through the dark clouds above, marking the territory of Santor de Spiral. A hospital, a haunting hotspot for the Dream Demons, and a hellish holding facility for the denizens of Beaver Creek.

The halls are dark and winding, lined with rooms holding the denizens. These rooms are dark all across the board, acting less as comfort and more as confinement. Indefinite confinement.

In the corner of her shared room, Lyla Park attempts to keep calm. But she cannot. She was already far away enough from Seattle, but now she couldn’t even say if she was still on Earth! It freaks her out, as does her frail and wounded roommate. But Lyla can easily tell from her soothing voice and comforting words that she means no harm: “Shh… It’s okay, girl.”

“My parents are probably freaking out. I don’t know where we are.”

This roommate walks over to Lyla, revealing her bandaged face, and holds her in a hug. She gently strokes her head, much like her own mother would, and tells her, “It’s all gonna be okay, Lyla.”

“How do you know my name?”

The roommate lets out a soft chuckle. “I am a friend of a friend. So don’t you worry a hair on your head… We will be free, my friend.”

* * *

The front doors open, prompting an uncaring desk worker to ask, “Good morning, how can we help y-”

Victoria quickly grabs his collar and pulls him close as she raises a fist to intimidate him. “We’re looking for… all of your patients. Where are they being held?” The desk worker, shaking, says nothing and instead tries to pull Victoria off of him. “Talk. Now.”

“They’re in their rooms now! We just brought them in!” Victoria slowly reels him in closer, glaring at him and waiting for the answer she wants. With a gulp, he adds, “Second and third floors! Please don’t hurt me!”

“Thanks.”, Victoria tells him before letting him drop behind his desk. She motions along for the Brothers to follow her, and the three sprint to the nearest stairwell.

Unbeknownst to them, through a security camera’s lens, they are spotted. And soon enough, they will be hunted.

**_!! INTRUDER ALERT !!_ **

**_!! This Is A Code Red Lockdown!!_ **

**_!! All Patients, Please Remain In Your Rooms !!_ **

Footsteps pitter patter outside, caused by the white-clad guards armed with surgical tools and batons, as the alarm blares violently over PA speakers. Many of the patients approach their doors, curious about the situation. Typically, one would avoid windows. But not this time, and not with these Dream Demons holding them captive. They want to see this, if it means even a chance at rescue.

Out in the halls, they can see the Brothers skipping along the halls and jumping onto their enemies’ heads to incapacitate them. At the same time, Victoria desperately grapples with a doctor, punching him in the stomach and head to knock him down. Finally, with a knee to his gut, the guard goes down.

As she dusts her hands off, she sees a dozen guards downed with the Brothers standing over them triumphantly. “Show offs.”, Victoria grumbles before grabbing the guard’s keys.

One by one, the doors open and both Lyla and her roommate prepare for their escape. They hear Victoria making small talk with the prisoners before letting the Brothers escort them to safety.

Suddenly, their door swings open, and Victoria stands in the doorway. “Hey, you. We’re here to rescue you. C’mon!”

As Lyla takes Victoria’s hand, the roommate follows closely behind and warns, “We need to be careful here. Bad guy around the corner.”

The trio pause and a guard leaps out at them from a window, armed with a baton. Fortunately for them, the roommate swiftly pulls a knife from her jacket and throws it at the guard, hitting him in the shoulder. With him disoriented, Victoria rushes the guard and pushes him out of the window.

As she steps back from it, she asks the roommate, “How’d you know that?”

“We’re friends, Vic. You know…”

She doesn’t get it, judging by that confused look on her face. The roommate raises her right hand and waves it around, cluing Victoria into what the answer to her question is: “Max?”

The roommate pulls away at some of the bandages hiding her face, revealing that she is indeed Max Caulfield. “Bingo!”

“Good to see a friendly face.”, Victoria remarks as she shakes Max’s hand hurriedly. The two move along, until Victoria notices that Lyla isn’t coming.

She’s scared, taking small steps away from the door in fear of Max. “I’m not going with her. She’s the one who brought me here!”

Max takes in a deep breath and sighs before slowly walking over to Lyla. “That wasn’t me. Daniel thought the same thing. I have a hypothesis here, and that what you saw was some sort of evil doppelganger of mine.” She offers Lyla her hand, hoping she’ll take it. And a few seconds later, she does indeed take it.

As the three rush down the halls, Victoria asks, “Do you know this doppelganger?”

“I just might.”

As the three reach the first floor, Lyla looks around at the many other patients escaping through the front door and asks, “Where are Daniel and Chris?”

Max lets out a chuckle and answers, “Daniel’s safe with me. Not here though. But I didn’t see Chris get brought in.”

“I just hope he’s alright.”

Erstwhile, Victoria has taken her chance to look out a nearby window. In the sky, in the distance, over Taylor and Courtney’s house, a silvery flare explodes in the sky as a marker of freedom for the fleeing patients.

As Lyla approaches the exit door with the other remaining patients, Victoria tells her, “Just follow that flare and my friends will welcome you and the others inside. Go, go!”

But when she sets her sights back on the front door… There is no front door. A wall has taken its place, and it is strong. Victoria notices this when she futilely slams her fist into it.

Behind her, a slimy voice speaks: “That won’t be happening, Victoria.” As she and the other remaining patients turn around, they see the Mad Hunter in his shadowy glory emerging from the shadows. And standing beside him is the helmeted woman that Melanie also mentioned earlier.

Victoria puts up her fists, though the look on her face tells the Hunter that she doesn’t really know what to do, and he tells his associate, “Do whatever you want, Lisbeth. Just make it hurt.”

Lisbeth cracks her neck, “With pleasure.” She aims her staff at the two women, only to be thrown off-guard when Max swiftly grabs it and redirects it into the roof. A whirlwind of fire erupts from the staff, melting a hole in the ceiling.

As the Brothers jump down from the hole and land on Lisbeth and the Hunter’s heads, Max looks to the rescue trio and shouts, “Get these people to safety! I’ll hold Fischer off!”

Without any hesitation, Victoria and the Brothers run through the first floor halls to somewhere-  _ anywhere _ away from their attackers. “Why is all of this happening?”, Lyla asks with panic filling her voice.

Victoria reassures her, and the other unsaid cries of fear in the crowd, as she leads them down some more halls. “I don’t know, but I do know everything will be fine. Trust me. And trust them too.” She points to the Brothers as they run in front of the whole crowd, leading them to what should be an escape.

Finally, with a swift right turn down a flight of stairs, the Brothers lead the group to a green pipe sticking out of the wall, illuminated under a dimming lightbulb. Mario remarks, “It-a sure is a good that THAT’s-a still here!”

As the Brothers keep an eye on the stairwell, Victoria motions for the patients to enter the pipe. No hesitation on their part, fortunately, save for Lyla.

Having let everyone else go first, she nods her head at Victoria with a friendly grin on her face, and says to Victoria, “Thank you.”, before vanishing into the green pipe to safety.

“That looks to be everyone!” Victoria exclaims. “Now, to go help-”

A body, burnt and broken, rolls down the stairs and slides up to Victoria. Her eyes widen as she recognizes her, and plants a hand on her mouth before screaming the poor corpse’s name: “MAX!”

As Victoria holds her friend’s body, Lisbeth marches down the stairs while coldly telling her, “It’s fine, child. She got what was coming to her. ‘For whatever one sows, that will she also reap’.”

As Victoria shakes, feeling the last little bits of life escape Max’s body, Luigi calls out to her, “We’ve got to-a go!”

Fighting back tears, Victoria crawls into the hole with the Brothers, escaping before Lisbeth or the Mad Hunter could catch them.

While Lisbeth tries to wrap her head around the green pipe, the Mad Hunter instead cackles as he runs over to the green pipe. He clutches the green pipe and closes his eyes, continuing to madly laugh as he redirects the rescue trio away from their intended destination.

He might not be able to kill them now, but he knows a place that will do the job just fine…


	4. Wake Up and Smell The Ashes

The Sun shines on the sleepy town of Possum Springs, waking its people up, fearing it will smell the ashes left behind in the attack on Beaver Creek.

Kate’s eyes open slowly, taking in the sunlight. She looks at her girlfriend, Dana, out of bed and already dressed for her morning jog. She’s surprisingly spry, considering all the stuff they did the night before.

Dana waves at her, “Morning, sunshine! I was gonna go for a jog. Grab some breakfast on the way back for you.”

Stretching her arms, Kate asks, “Could I come with you?”

Dana nods her head. “Of course, if you’re up for it. You deserve the rest.” As Dana walks over and plants a kiss on Kate’s forehead, they both hear a sinister giggle from the corner of the room.

They almost forgot; that pale green demon from last night that attacked them was still with them, and still tied up in an office chair in the corner of Kate’s bedroom.

Kate adds with a laugh, “Oh, uh… I’ll take care of that.” She gets out of bed and calmly walks over to the demon, even offering him a water bottle. As he shakes his head, Kate takes a gulp and asks the creature, “Where do you guys keep coming from?”

“I am merely a messenger of the Black Goat. Her day is at hand.”

Dana sighs and informs him, “Yeah, the last three demons who came here said the same thing.”

Kate nods her head and firmly tells the demon, “We’ll take her down.”

“Your friend Max wasn’t even able to.”

Kate gulps, worried about how he too would know of that name. _First Fischer, now this guy_ … “What happened to Max? What did you do to her?”

“Not me. But what you should be asking is what she did to herself!”

Kate shakes her head, half to wake herself up and half to tell herself that the demon is lying. Dana steps over to Kate and tenderly holds her shoulders. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Let’s get dressed first.” They hear footsteps creaking along the wooden floorboards behind them. The demon’s eyes widen in shock, soon joined in by Kate’s and Dana’s, when they see Max Caulfield emerging from their closet, as if she’s entered from a hole to another universe.

“Hey, how are you two doing?”, Max says with a friendly wave of one hand while drinking coffee with her other.

Kate runs over to her and swoops her up in a big hug. “Max! You’re okay!”

With a confused chuckle, Max answers, “I sure am.”

Dana looks at the closet, seeing that it truly does lead out to some other location, and asks Kate, “What happened to your apartment?”

Max explains to her, “It’s a wormhole, but not super stable. Grab your masks and let’s go.”

* * *

Max leads her friends through the cold halls of the Federal Bureau of Control’s Headquarters. For the past three years, after the Diaz Brothers woke the world up to the notion of super powered individuals, she and Chloe have worked with the FBC closely, using her powers to protect the world from supernatural forces across the country.

She’d told her friends two years prior of her powers - how she got them back in 2014, how she used them to save Chloe’s life, and how she tried to stop the Storm from Nowhere to little success - but she’d never told her friends of the specifics that came with working at the FBC… Until now.

Curiouser and curiouser, inspired by the brutalist architecture surrounding her, Kate asks, “Where are we?”

Casually, Max explains, “The Oldest House: our Base of Operations.”

Dana also looks around, holding Kate’s hand to keep her close in this strange new place while also waving hello to the occasional agent or janitor. “Where’s Chloe?”

“She’s busy over at Beaver Creek.”

“You didn’t go with her?”, Kate asks, hoping to have seen her too.

Max shrugs her shoulders and answers, “I am.”

Kate slowly nods her head, unsure how to interpret that. “Okay… Did you happen to run into the Black Goat?”

“Kinda…” Max laughs. “… But you can’t keep a good girl down.”

Dana smiles and adds, “Amen, sister.”

Max leads the two into a boardroom where a ginger woman - the Director Jesse Faden, dressed for business as always - stands opposite them. She faces a window, gazing out at the Big Apple, before turning around to see Max and her friends. “Ah, right on time.” She takes a seat and motions for the others to take a seat too, which they quickly do.

Jesse clicks a button on a remote, turning on a projection in the center of the table. It shows newsreel footage, reporting on a blast that seemingly claimed the lives of Beaver Creek, Oregon’s population. Another hologram pops up, of an old man, asleep in his hospital bed. “About five hours ago, an Altered World Event occurred in the small town of Beaver Creek. We have reason to believe that this man was used to capture the town’s population and strand them in another dimension we refer to as The Astral Plane. Any questions so far?”

Kate raises her hand, so Jesse points her out: “Yes, Miss Marsh?”

“What does all of this have to do with us?”

Jesse smirks at her and answers, “It should be plain to see. About two weeks ago, you and Miss Ward here entered Hell to retrieve a young girl who was abducted by the Black Goat. And according to what Miss Chase told us from this Astral Plane, the denizens of Beaver Creek are being hunted by a being known as the Mad Hunter.”

Max hands Kate and Dana several yellow folders; inside it are writeups, articles, and personal accounts of both the Mad Hunter and the Black Goat, collected from a wide array of authors, eyewitnesses, educational papers, and websites. “From what Agents Ronan have told us, and from what our research into the Goat has concluded, both of these creatures are connected by way of being natives to the Astral Plane. Sinister ones at that. Add onto that what Mister Diaz has told us regarding this ‘Mantroid’ imaginary friend and the ‘other Max’ he saw, we have reason to believe that these creatures are working together.”

“That’s a lot to take in.”

“You think that’s crazy? This is just the tip of the iceberg.” As Kate looks over at Dana, who is equally confused as her, Max reassures them, “Don’t worry, Kate. We’ve been through much bigger situations. And after all, we trust you to help. You and Dana.”

Dana sighs, strangely accepting of everything she’s just been told, and asks, “So what’s the next step?”

Jesse answers, “There are two parts. One is that we’ve gotta find this Old Man. The other is that we have to get into the Astral Plane and retrieve everyone we can. Agent Caulfield has said that we could work with Miss Chase and her friends, since they’ve already been brought into this other dimension.”

“Are they alright?”, Kate asks, shocked at where Victoria and Jessica are.

Max answers with a smile and tells her, “It sounded like they were alright.”

With the briefing complete, Jesse claps her hands and exclaims, “Now, let’s get to work.” But suddenly, her phone goes off. She picks it up, and hears what the person on the other line has to say. “Oh, son of a bitch.”

“What happened?”, Max asks.

Jesse answers her question rather annoyedly: “I guess it’s a good thing your friend Victoria got out of Seattle when she could. The Old bastard you fought just stole its population too!”

Knowing that Max had family, Kate walks over to her and hugs her. “Oh, no. Max…”

Dana asks Jesse, “What now?”

“Agent Caulfield shall investigate.”

Kate is confused at that. “But she’s right here.”, she says as she looks down at Max… only to feel her go limp and slide out of her grasp, collapsing on the ground with limbs limp like those of a corpse. But still, she lives and breathes, with her mind merely miles away.

Dana ponders out loud, “Is that normal?”

* * *

Back in Beaver Creek, loose memories linger in the air as Agent Tyler Ronan uses his superpower to see them, make them at least somewhat visible to those investigating. He is aided by Chloe, as she scrolls through a tablet to link these memories with security footage retrieved from before the blast. There’s not a lot, but there is enough to work with.

Max hurriedly rises from her chair, having left it there several hours previously. Noticing that she is awake, Chloe asks, “What’s up?”

“Seattle’s gone. The Old Man took it. And my parents were in the blast zone.”

Chloe sighs and hugs Max. “Shit. I’m sorry.”

“I should’ve warned them… No. I should.” Max quickly pulls her phone out from her pocket and scrolls through her camera roll. She finds a solid photo with her parents and Chloe - three weeks prior - all masked, all safe, all in Seattle. Suspended in a moment of pure bliss, enjoying a drive-in movie as one big, happy family.

Chloe places a hand on her shoulder before telling her, “Please be careful.”, and she places a kiss on Max’s forehead.

“I will, Chloe.” The two smile at each other, hopeful for success. Max sets her sights back on the photograph and focuses on it. Unblinkingly. Carefully.

_Dead blue eyes glare back at Max in the midst of total blackness, piercing into her soul, begging her to stop._

“Max!”, Chloe yells as her girlfriend stumbles in place.

“It’s okay, Chloe. I’m getting rusty.”, she lies. “I have to try harder.” And so she does, once more looking into that photograph.

_The stranger mocks Max with her own freckled face, dropping the facade of fear and replacing it with malice; licking her lips with a blackened tongue, grinning widely. She speaks, in a sickly and robotic whisper, “Peekaboo, Maxi-Moo, Iiiiii seeeee yoooou.”_

The phone shatters in Max’s grasp before the strength in her body just falls out of her. Chloe manages to grab her before she can hit the floor, and she says to her friend, “Tyler, we might need first aid.”

“I’m on it.”, he says before quickly running over to some nearby medics.

As Max reawakens, she sees her again. Her younger self, with that mocking sneer and that dissenting look in her eyes. Her Other laughs in her face, telling her, “You’re so goddamn weak.”

Max almost can’t tell if she’s real or not, but she can certainly hear her clear as day. “It’s you… What are you doing here?”

“I came to say hello, and to tell you we’re not stopping at Seattle and Beaver Creek. We will tear the world apart, and you can’t do a damned thing to stop us.”

“We will. We have to.”

“I guess you must be stuck in ‘a few hours ago’ mode. Before we killed you twice.” The Other laughs in Max’s face, failing to notice that she’s essentially looking through her now. “How many more bodies can you throw at us - nice work on the doubles, by the way. Real durable, like the real deal.” The Other leans in to sneer straight in her face now before adding, “How many more innocents will you have to kill to stop me this time, because let me tell you, that record you set back in Arcadia Bay was impressive even by my standards.”

She likes seeing Max afraid, unknowing of what to say. Just the way it was back in that packed diner. Just the way she likes it.

But Chloe has her back, shouting at the doppelganger, “Leave her alone!”

The Other looks up at Chloe, taking in her presence with her hazel eyes. “My, my, have you grown… Rachel would be impressed. I guess she’d have to thank Max for that… and she will.” Suddenly, it dawns on her that someone who ISN’T Max can see her. Not only Chloe, but a small battalion of armed soldiers, with Tyler making the Other’s presence known with his gift. “Hm. Until next time.” The Other awkwardly waves goodbye before vanishing from Max’s brain. Out of mind, out of sight.

Max sighs, knowing what all of this means. “Lyla, Daniel, Victoria: they were right. Oh, God. She’s working with the Mad Hunter.”

Tyler walks over and helps her up to her feet with Chloe. A bit confused at that statement, he explains to Max, “The Mad Hunter can’t be real. Me and my sister made sure of that.”

“Well, he’s real now, and he’s working with her. The other Max they saw- I saw, it’s the same one I saw in my nightmare back in Arcadia Bay.”

Over the radio, a younger woman answers, “That’s right, Max.” Silence falls upon the crowd before the radio adds, “Oh, good, this thing’s working.”

Max holds up her radio and asks it, “Who is this on the line?”

“My name’s Alex. I can help you fight these nightmare people. Meet me in Seattle… All of you, meet me there.”


	5. Party Games

Pain ripples through Victoria’s body as she looks up at the clear blue skies overhead. The clear blue skies that just dropped her from a green pipe into the sunny swamplands below. She wants to scream, and swear, and hit something, but she can only grumble one word, through her gritted teeth: “Ow.” She sits up, swearing under her breath, only to be interrupted by an audible pop in her backside. “Oh, my back!”, Victoria yells, rubbing the sore spot.

Suddenly, she notices the strange teal glow emanating from the swamp water. _Do I know this place_ , she asks herself. She rises to her feet, lazily, still recovering from the fall, and takes a few steps to approach the water.

With a deep breath, she falls face first into the water, letting its properties heal her. Broken bones mend, fresh cuts close, and aching wounds fade all over her body.

Rejuvenated wholly, Victoria emerges from the water, laughing to herself. _Oh, I definitely know this place!_

Victoria would not call herself a gamer but, with a quarantine keeping her away from the party scene of Seattle, she had to find some way to keep her mind off of the pandemic. Fortunately, Jessica had bought a Playbox for Christmas, and both she and Victoria would get their money’s worth out of the console with quarantine keeping them inside. And among the many games the two played, “Fortnite” quickly became a favorite in the Chase Space and especially with Victoria.

With the swampwater confirming where she is, she knows her next destination: the Factory nearby. Carefully and quietly, she approaches the building, not hearing any gunfire. And just like the game, with the turn of every corner, she finds highly helpful loot - guns, ammunition, bandages - and she hoards all the best stuff in her inventory.

Finally, she finds a room, empty save for a television set and a wooden chair. Here, she rests, watching broadcasts from all across the map. They cut out, again and again, but they tell her what she needs to know about the Storm (she’s in the eye of it) and where her enemies are located (about a dozen remain and they’ll be converging on the Factory sooner rather than later). Victoria loads her shotgun, pistol, and sub-machine gun, and cracks her knuckles, ready for combat…

But combat shows up a couple minutes too early, it seems, as footsteps march through the halls of the Factory, searching for imminent action.

Caught off guard, Victoria hastily grabs her nearest pistol, and marches forward to face her opposition, as they draw closer and closer to her location.

All _four_ of them, evidently, as they open the door, armed and ready to take her down.

* * *

 _DAMMIT! That was Squads?!_ , Victoria internally screams at herself in her dull, dreary prison cell. She looks up at the ceiling, a dim light bulb keeping her room illuminated.

Suddenly, she feels his presence at her door. The Mad Hunter, with his pearly white grin, peers in through her barred door. “Hey, you. You’re finally awake… Er, as awake as you can be.” Victoria sits up and glares at him, much to the Hunter’s delight. “You were trying to get home, right? Instead, you walked right into my trap. Like a stupid idiot.”

“Where are we?”

“The Gulag. The holding place for all my contestants.” Victoria raises an eyebrow, confused at the usage of the word. “I see that look on your face. ‘What do you mean by contestants’?” The Hunter leans back on a railing opposite the cell, crossing his arms. “I wasn’t always a Hunter. I used to host a game show. Still do, from time to time. And when I’m not corrupting the memories of good little boys and girls, I come back here… for a jolly good show. And you, my dear, are one of my newest contestants.”

A fire burns in Victoria’s soul, hungry for revenge. _This bastard killed Max_. “I’ll get out of here.”

“I’ll do you one better.” The Mad Hunter snaps his fingers at her cell door, and it slides away with a sickening metallic screech. “Show me what you’ve got.”, he says, motioning for Victoria to bring it on. With no hesitation to exact her vengeance, she lunges at him… and falls right through him, instead slamming gut-first right into the railing. The Hunter’s hologram laughs in her face as she recovers on the floor: “Look at you, Vicky. You’re soooo strong.”

With a groan, Victoria tells him, “You’re gonna pay for what you did to Max!”

The Mad Hunter’s grin widens as he jokes, “Then let me call my lawyer. Bye!”, before vanishing.

After a few seconds of catching her breath, Victoria stands back up and looks around at the Gulag. There are others out of their cells, and others in their cells. Most look like normal people, afraid of the great change that has just shaken up their lives once more.

Walking through the Gulag, she hears questions amidst sobs, begging a slew of deities for answers, only to receive none. She hears talks, discussing what had happened, with no discernable answers. She hears fear, mounted upon lost hope, seeking out loved ones in locations unknown. Dread lingers in the air, spreading, and distorting based on one’s fears, like a raging virus.

And as Victoria marches onwards through the area, she feels a tap on her shoulder. Shaking her out of her trance, she turns to see three weary travellers (judging by their loose and soiled clothes), all of whom roughly her own age. The youngest of the group, Jacob, asks her, “Excuse me, you’re with the rescue team, right?”

Victoria nods her head as she looks at him and answers, “Yeah. How did you know?”

“After we first got here, we heard a radio transmission, saying that help was on the way. You match the description the woman gave: blonde hair, kinda tall, a little snobby when you get to know her.”

Victoria chuckles and says with a sigh, “Sounds like me alright. Name’s Victoria Chase.” Though she laughs, she asks herself, _Who sent the message?_ She figures these fine folks wouldn’t know.

“My name’s Jacob. My friend’s names are Penny and Hannah.”

Victoria shakes Jacob and Penny’s hands with a smile on her face. “Very nice to meet the three of you.”, she says as she goes to shake Hannah’s hand too.

Hannah pauses at her outstretched hand, not raising one herself. Instead, she asks Victoria, “Didn’t you buy out a website solely so you could bully your classmate?”

Victoria looks down and away from facing Hannah’s judging gaze, before looking back up at her and answering, regretfully, “Yeah. I did. And I hate that I did. But I’ve made amends. Anyways, that’s not important to all of this, it was like seven years ago.” Victoria feels a different pit in her stomach as she realizes what she just said: _God, I’m old._

Hannah's a bit uninspired by the gesture as, amidst the awkward silence, she remarks, "A whole website?" She does sees a light in Victoria's eyes, the type you don't see in a particularly malicious individual. With a shrug, she does decide to shake her hand, even offering her a smirk: “I'm just yanking your chain. I'm sure you're happy to help.”

Victoria looks at the trio with a renewed smile on her face as she nods her head. “I take it you three are also from Beaver Creek?”

Penny explains to her, “We were camping a few miles outside of Beaver Creek when we saw a flash of light. Whatever it was, it brought us here, along with the people from the town."

With arms crossed, Hannah adds, “We also got separated from Jacob’s little sister, Sarah Lee.”

“She’s a lot younger than us, just a kid.” Jacob looks at his friends, with worry consuming his heart. “I hope she’s alright.”

Victoria plants a hand on his shoulder and offers him hope: “Don’t worry, Jake. We’ll find your sister, and we’ll bring her back to you safe and sound.”

Hannah raises an eyebrow and asks, “Who’s ‘we’?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Yeah, because you’re a dirty, stinky liar!”, screams a squeaky voice over the PA system.

Offense quickly turns to anger as Victoria looks at the loudspeaker shit-talking her. “Who are you?”, she asks with her fists balled up in restrained rage.

“I’m the boy running these games! You can call me…” Drumroll please. “Partyboy!”

As the Drifters sigh in annoyance, Victoria mutters to herself, “Fuck me.” Wiping her face down in frustration, she asks, “What do you want… Partyboy?”

“I like fun! So you’re going to have fun on the Island, and whatever else Mr. Hunter wants!” Over the PA, a whisper rumbles behind Partyboy’s brash yelling.

Victoria sneers at the loudspeaker and asks, “Who’s that over the microphone?”

“It’s Mr. Hunter, dumb-butt!” The whispers continue, which provoke a laugh from Partyboy. “He says you smell like grass!”

Victoria’s jaw drops, and she points at the loudspeaker, shaking once more with rage. “How… dare you!”

Penny tells Victoria calmly, “Let’s try and talk to the kid, okay?” Jacob and Hannah pull her away, hoping to calm her down, while Penny speaks to the loudspeaker, “Partyboy, we don’t want to argue with you.”

“Okay. Byyyyye!”

“N-no, hang on. We know there’s a good kid in there. A kid who wants to see the world for what it’s worth. For all its beauty. For all it has to offer the good people who live in it. We want to see that world too. We want to be free.”

Over the speaker, he hears a response… digital beeps and blasts, with the tapping of buttons and triggers on a controller. “Ooh, new characters!”

Penny rolls his eyes before throwing his hands up in the air. “Well, I tried.”

Victoria groans, “How are we supposed to negotiate with this kid?”

“He’s doing good work if he’s got your prissy ass all worked up!” Victoria recognizes that guy’s voice…

“Please, Dale. Let’s not fight right now.” She also recognizes her voice too.

She turns around and sees that the front gates of the Gulag are wide open. Entering are about two dozen strangers, dressed in a variety of outfits: business, casual, pajamas, prisoner and emergency uniforms. And among them are the Party Parents, that criminal duo that menaced the Chase Space barely a month earlier.

As Victoria takes in a deep, aggravated sigh, she asks the two, “Now where the hell did you two come from?”

Father Festivity answers with a smug grin on his face. “King’s County Correctional. Out early for good behavior thanks to this big, bright flash of light that zapped us here.” As he walks forward with his wife, their outfits transmute from prison garb to their colorful work outfits. Looking down at his jacket, he remarks, “Groovy.”

Although she’s just a little bit jealous and intrigued, Victoria tells him bluntly, “I’ve got more pressing matters to deal with than you.”

The Father looks around, mockingly, and asks, “Oh no, is there another artsy-fartsy party you have to attend?”

“I’m trying to get people out of here. Because…” Victoria looks up and notices a window, tucked away in the shadows of the ceiling, that wasn't there before. Looking out is Partyboy - dressed in a nifty suit of purple and blue hues, with an oversized top hat on his head - accompanied by none other than the Mad Hunter. He smiles upon his captives , creepily, while petting the boy’s head equally as eerily. Victoria points at him and exasperatedly continues, “... Because THAT little shit is working with the Dream Demons to try and… I dunno, end the world!”

Partyboy looks down at her and shouts, “Am not!”

Victoria stomps her foot in anger and shouts back, “Are too!”

While Partyboy is busy sticking his tongue out at Victoria, and Victoria is equally busy sticking her tongue out at him, Mother Merrymaker quivers. She notices something oddly familiar about the boy… and it frightens her just a bit. She grabs her husband’s shoulder and tells him, “Dale. Look.”

He looks too and gasps as he sees what she sees in the Partyboy. “It can’t be.”

Victoria looks at them from the corner of her eye and asks, with her tongue still stuck out, “What?”

The Father shakes his head in disbelief. “That’s our… No. That’s impossible.”

Realizing how serious the two are, Victoria sticks her tongue back in her mouth and walks over to them. “Are you okay?” She looks up with them and asks, “Do you know that kid?”

The Father cackles, almost sarcastically, before informing her, “It’s none of your goddamn business, bitch.” He looks over to his wife and asks her, “Don’t tell her this, Ann.”

“Dale, please, let me talk to her.” As she walks over to Victoria, she also points up to Partyboy, which transforms the grin on the Mad Hunter’s face into a grimace. He quickly leads the boy away, to look and play somewhere safer, but it doesn’t change what the Party Parents know. “That kid- and it sounds crazy, but… I think he’s our son. Or… He was.” Her breathing grows tougher as she remembers the specifics that she could _never_ forget. But opting to keep it short, she explains, “I was pregnant a couple years ago. And everything was going fine. But then one day… we lost the pregnancy.”

The lingering anger in Victoria’s soul melts away, instead turning to a calming sympathy. “God. I’m sorry.”

As Victoria wraps her arms around the Mother, hugging her out of instinct, she tells her, “It’s okay, thank you. For a long time, it hurt. We both wished for that little bundle of joy, that ray of sunshine in our dark lives, but we just lost him… And that kid; he’s about as old as our boy would be. And in our dreams, both of our dreams, we’ve seen him. That kid looks like him, it has to be him!”

Victoria’s a bit confused, but she thinks she’s got the gist of it as she gently backs out of the hug: “You’re saying you, for lack of a better term, dreamed him to life?”

Still annoyed at her presence, the Father answers, “What do you think?”

The Mother holds his hand, hoping to sooth his anger, and quickly tells him, “We have to try talking to him. I don't know how or when, but we have to reach out to him.”

With a deep breath, Victoria reassures her, “I have faith in you two... And about the fight at my birthday party, I’m sorry for not just paying you.”

“Maybe we can focus on that another time.” The Mother extends a hand of peace, hoping for a handshake. And happily, Victoria accepts the handshake. “And just so you know, my name’s Ann. His is Dale.”

A smile emerges on Victoria’s face. “I’m happy to have met you two.” The two women laugh with each other, much to Dale’s continued (but slowly melting) aggravation.

Suddenly, the PA system activates again, and the Mad Hunter speaks, grabbing the attention of all the prisoners in his hold: “Good day, my lovely captives, I surely hope you are all enjoying your time here! Tomorrow, in place of the standard Battle Royale, we here on the show want to give you a special treat; a shot of adrenaline to really wake you up! That’s right, you lot will be the stars in a fight for survival, on a grueling obstacle course designed by yours truly, with the intent of carrying on the strongest, and absolutely crushing the weakest! So stay alive… if you can.”

As his laughter rings through the Gulag, Victoria can’t help but scowls, fairly set on not dying. Not after all the stuff she’s been through. Not with a plan in her head that she intends on seeing carried through!


	6. Battle Royale

The line to the phone is long, linked along by several prisoners hoping to call someone, anyone. And yet, the people they’d call are out of range or otherwise incapable of doing anything to help. But Victoria knows someone else who can help.

“ID.”, asks the bean-shaped guard. Victoria hands him her State ID, which he accepts. “You may enter.”

She holds the phone and dials her best friend’s number. After a few seconds of ringing, she answers with a sigh of relief, “Hey, Jess.”

Jessica can almost be heard jumping up and down in joy as she responds, “Victoria, thank god you’re safe! Where are you?”

With an awkward pause, she answers, “In a Gulag set up by the Mad Hunter.”

“Did he hurt you?”

Victoria grins and informs her, “No, I’m fine, actually. I suspect he’s planning on taking me out soon, with some sort of special event in his game show. But I won’t let that happen.”

“That’s the spirit, Vic!”, Jessica exclaims with a proud chuckle. “Oh, by the way, the people from the Hospital got here, safe and sound. I’ve been taking care of them, and they’ve set up camp upstairs…”

Victoria’s face glows as she hears the good news: “That’s wonderful! How are Courtney and Taylor holding up?”

“Well, I actually haven’t seen them much. I mean, I spot them around but, at times, they just kinda vanish.”

_ Weird… _ , Victoria thinks to herself. “Hm. I guess I’ll check it out when I get home. Hopefully with a lot more people too.” She suddenly realizes what that situation is gonna look like; everyone squished together in this little house in the middle of nowhere. “It’s gonna get packed.”

Jessica explains, “That’s another thing too, uh, the house is… how do I put it: transforming? Like the people upstairs are making new floors.”

Victoria’s intrigued and she’d love to learn more, but she can see one of the guards tapping on his wristwatch, telling her to speed it up. “Shit, I gotta go soon. Uh, one more thing. Call the Brothers, please get them here, with something that’ll get everyone out, please? Something big, preferably.”

Jessica laughs, though she’s still filled with worry at Victoria’s current predicament. “Sure thing, Vic. Get home safe.”

_ Ah, she’s mothering me again. _ Victoria adores that about her, and that tone she takes when she does it too. “I wouldn’t want to let you down. Take care.”

“You too.” And so, Victoria hangs up, a renewed hope in her heart as Phase 1 of The Plan comes along nicely.

* * *

Whispers rumble throughout the Gulag, speaking words of revolution. The message drifts through the tongues of the Drifters, delivering Victoria’s goal to the other unfortunate prisoners: “Tomorrow, we take flight; plumbed from the arena, brought to safety in the ever growing home. We will move as one, and strike as one. We will batter that Hunter, and show this unreal world our human prowess.”

All that can be given, and all that is needed, is an understanding nod of the head for the daring trio - Penny, Hannah, Jacob - to know that the word has been spread. As word travels from prisoner to prisoner, so does hope. Phase 2 is a-go…

But not without complications. Bean-Beings, like the guard at the phone, enter through the front gates of the Gulag, from places unknown, to join in the competition.

Penny walks up to one of them, clad in a pink bodysuit, and asks him, “What are your thoughts on the revolution underway, friend?”

The Bean-Being answers with by waving his arms and softly exclaiming, “Woohooooo!”

Having not known what that was supposed to mean at all, Penny nods his head with a chuckle and a smile. “Yeah?”

* * *

With the message loud and clear, it reaches the ears it perhaps shouldn’t have gotten to. Nosy Partyboy knows now, and so must the Mad Hunter if he’s to stay happy and ahead of the curve.

As he marches along an empty hallway, hurrying to the Hunter, a happy voice echoes into his head: “Heya, sport.” Partyboy looks to the source - Father Festivity - as he emerges from around the corner up ahead.

Upon looking at the man’s jacket, Partyboy is greatly interested in the patterns it possesses; all those triangles and circles, colorfully illuminated against a black backdrop. The boy remarks, “Where did you get that cool jacket?”

Father Festivity lets out a proud chuckle: “My wife made them for me.” He skips along, approaching Partyboy. “I gotta say, your jacket’s snazzier!”

“Duh!” Despite the Father’s friendly approach, Partyboy is on a mission. He steps along, looking forward to exposing the rebellion.

Suddenly, clad in the same sort of pattern on her jacket too, Mother Merrymaker spins out from around the same corner that the Father came from. “Where are you headed?”, she asks, a friendly grin on her face.

Partyboy points down the hall, answering, “I’m going back to work. The Mad Hunter needs to know what I know!”

The Mother chuckles, much to Partyboy’s confusion. “Does he really? Seems to me like you’d be better off without the old sourpuss.”

The Father adds, “Yeah, you’ve got what he doesn’t: a flair for fun.”

Partyboy nods his head before telling the duo, “Thank you. Mr. Hunter’s been teaching me everything I need to know about these shows!”

The Father scoffs as he plants a supportive hand on the kid’s shoulder. “I dunno, kiddo. That guy, I don’t buy him. Ya feel me?”

The Mother plants another hand on his shoulder and adds, “We both think you’ve learned good enough on your own, kid.”

The nodding of Partyboy’s head slows down as he looks at the two with a suspicious look in his shifting eyes. “What is this?”

The Mother walks along to face the boy, and she offers him a sincere grin as she states, “You’re great at your job is all. And quite frankly, we’d like to help you out here.”

“How do I know you’re not gonna betray me?”

“That’s the last thing either of us would want to do. But that Mad Hunter, we don’t trust the cut of his jib. He seems like a one-man show, really.”, explains the Mother.

The Father chimes in, “We on the other hand, we really know how to spruce things up. Together, as a crew. Wanna hear our plan?”

After a few seconds of deliberating, Partyboy shrugs his shoulders and answers, “Sure.”

Phase 3 comes along…?

* * *

The night has faded, and a new day has dawned. beam down onto the colorful course, equipped with hammers, rotors, see-saws, monkey bars, trap doors and impending rage. But not for the Mad Hunter, as he looks down at the set from a vibrant vantage point. Sipping on some juice, he bares his proud hunter’s grin.

Approaching his side are the Father, the Mother, and the Boy; those who were smart enough to know who the winning team is. “Good morning, my lovely captives! Welcome to the show! As you can see, the entertainment is just fuming to tear into each and every one of you! But, if you can make it in, if you can defy the odds and… just survive, you’ll earn the greatest prize of all! Life! You will walk away a survivor, while the rest… don’t. Fair odds, right?”

Victoria glares at him, resisting the urge to give him the finger, knowing that his cloudy, soulless eyes are on her. The Hunter can sense the rage in her bones; it is an amusing sensation to witness, as he has grown to learn in his years of toying with individuals. Perhaps she once knew the same.

_ “Once”. Weak! _ , the Hunter ponders. “Let the timer count us down, and then we shall begin!”

**3…** Victoria takes a deep breath and smiles, taking in the sunlight, ready for battle.

**2…** The Mad Hunter cracks his knuckles, determined to crush the not-so-secret rebellion that he’s gained wind of.

**1…** One of the Fall Guys looks into a camera, and waves to it. “Woohoooooo!”, he exclaims as a message for his family at home.

**GO!** No hesitation, no surrender.

As a unit, the competitors run side-by-side, dodging deadly machinations determined to rip them to shreds. The pretty colors only mask the brutality of failure. But the runners know that, just by observing the shaky and careful nature of the Bean Beings, they will not be destroyed by it.

While they were expecting wily machines - and have done a fine job surviving them as is - they most certainly weren’t counting on arrows being thrown into the mix. Or rather, fired by the Mad Hunter’s hand.

As an arrow narrowly avoids striking Victoria, she can only throw her arms up in the air and shout, “Come on!” Fortunately, there is cover to hide behind, a highly visible shooter, and a mass of targets for him to focus on.

The Mad Hunter can only laugh as he sees the rage boiling in Victoria, as well as the futility in it. She can’t save everyone, and he just wants her to know that before he puts one right between her eyes.

But before he can start spilling blood, he feels a tug on his cloak. Partyboy asks, “Can I get a try?”

“Sure!”, he says with his toothy grin. The Hunter hands him the bow, and lets the boy take it into his hands.

Partyboy takes aim at a small crowd of three climbing the monkey bars, and he fires… with a weak pull of the string. The Hunter sighs and kneels next to him, “You’re doing it all wrong, kiddo.”

Before he can help himself back to the bow, the Parents grab his shoulders with a force intending to resist. The Mother assures him, “Let the boy have a try at it. If at first you don’t succeed…”

Back on the ground, the crowd regains their united form and pushes onward. It’s scary, with a giant river of slime beneath them that will, more likely than not, kill them, but they have to persevere. It seems to be what the Bean Beings are doing, at least.

The finish line grows nearer and nearer, with these damned humans pushing past every obstacle, intuitively and together.

And just as together, the Party Parents have pushed nearer to the Hunter, watching Partyboy perform poorly with the bow still. They’ll teach him later. But first, they have to deal with the Hunter.

Which is where Phase 4 comes in… as does an arrow to the Hunter’s knee. It seems Partyboy DOES know how to use the bow.

Falling to the floor, writhing in pain, the Hunter screeches, “What are you doing?” He lifts himself up, barely, and glares at the boy. “Traitorous little bastard.” He raises a hand, wanting to strike the boy.

Fortunately, he is shoved down to the ground by the Parents. Putting him in a chokehold, the Father shouts, “Don’t talk to our son that way!”, and the Mother takes her chance to punch the Hunter in the back of his head.

The three Party People quickly dogpile on the Hunter, and they all fall, from the spectator area to the finish line.

Seeing as the runners are narrowly approaching, a sinister idea pops into the Hunter’s head; knowing that there can be only one winner, he shall be it. If it means the death of his opponents, then he’ll gladly trap himself in his own game.

And so, he jumps back through the finish line, with the three Party People still attached to him.  **ROUND OVER!**

An uneasy silence falls upon the runners, gathered together to reach the finish line, for just a few seconds.

The next second after that, they fall; the course has vanished beneath their feet, allowing gravity to pull them down to the slime below.

Fortunately, help has arrived: “Yoohoo! It’s-a us!”, gleefully shouts Luigi as he pilots an airship beneath the stage. It’s a bit of a hard impact, but it manages to catch each and every one of the runners - human and Bean-Being alike.

As the Brothers check up on the runners, knowing that they’re collectively in a lot of pain after landing on wood, the Drifters catch a glimpse of them. Penny asks, “That isn’t really-”

“It is.”, Victoria answers. She slowly gets up, rubbing her back, and walks over to the Brothers. “Is that everyone?”

Mario nods his head, “Looks-a like it.”

Victoria sighs, and notices a Victory Podium in the distance, with a camera aimed at it. On it stands the Mad Hunter… and Father Festivity, Mother Merrymaker, and Partyboy. Disregarding the Hunter, they will stay behind as survivors… but stand together as mother, father, and son. It warms her heart. She looks back to the Brothers and asks, “How have you two been holding up?”

Mario explains, “We landed in-a Subcon. We’ve been there before-a, but things have-a changed.”

Luigi quickly chimes in, “The Wart is-a back, and we need to-a stop him!” After noticing the tired look on Victoria’s face, he elaborates, “This-a one should be quick. And besides, there’s been-a sightings of a human girl. One with-a wings.”

As Mario and Luigi show her a picture of two of the young girl, having taken flight with colorful feathers on her back, Jacob notices and answers, “That’s my sister.”

Victoria looks over to him and answers, with an optimistic smile on her face, “Like I said, we’ll get her back.” She promptly shifts her gaze to the world beyond, where Subcon awaits!


	7. The Internal Plexus of Subcon

With parachutes fastened onto their backs, Victoria and the Brothers are ready to deploy. All they have to do is walk out that red door on the lower levels of the Airship and they’ll be right with Subcon shortly after.

Victoria takes a deep breath, still remembering her last fall from the Hospital to the Island. But that won’t happen again. Not with a parachute strapped to her back.

As she and the Brothers look at the red door, the former Gulag prisoners right behind them. Victoria turns to tell them calmly, “The airship will be placed on auto-pilot, straight to the house my friends own. You’ll all be safe there. Got it?” Seeing their resolve on their faces answer for them, Victoria gifts them a smile.

She sets her sights back on the red door and opens it, feeling the wind hit her in the face.

This’ll be one for the history books: the Astral Plane’s first HALO jump.

Mario jumps out of the airship first, triumphantly shouting “Let’s-a goooooo!”.

Victoria would be up next, but she notices the shiver in Luigi’s body. He tells her, “I’ve-a never really done-a this before!”

With an understanding sigh, she tells him, “Me neither.” Quickly, she holds his hand, hoping to calm him down. “Let’s jump together, okay? On three!”

As Luigi gulps, still afraid out of his mind, Victoria counts him down: “One… Two… THREE!”

They jump, with Luigi screaming in fear as he falls! For a few seconds, he feels like he’s gonna die, like he doesn’t have a parachute on his back, or a hand holding him together.

Make that two hands, as Mario paddles through the air to hold onto his brother’s other hand. “It’s okay, bro!”, he says to Luigi reassuringly. “I’m-a here too!”

Luigi opens his eyes, and the ground becomes clearer and clearer; the buildings crafted from brown bricks, the grassy knoll that the trio are targeting for their landing, the deep blue waterfalls pouring from the hilltops, the crimson hoodmen patrolling the ground, the albatrosses soaring through the sky, all that chromatic jazz. Just as he remembers.

To give him some time to reminisce a bit more, Mario pulls the cord on his backpack, deploying the parachute. He and Victoria let go of Luigi’s hand, seeing the smile on his face.

Mario follows suit, and Victoria does too. Their parachutes flap against the resistance of the wind, bringing their descent to a gentle crawl.

Victoria lands at the top of the grassy mountain. It provides a good tactical vantage point as she can see a fortress in the distance.

Luigi lands right next to her. She claps for him, genuinely, much to his delight, and asks, “Now how do we get to Wart?”

Mario misses the mountain entirely, instead opting to escape from his chute and aim his landing for the head of a Shy Guy down below. He kicks the Shy Guy before grabbing him and tossing him at another Shy Guy in front of him.

Luigi points to the far away fortress, still remembering his last journey. “He’s up ahead, in his big-a castle, past all these-a Guys. I-a say we follow my bro.”

And so, the two run along, past the battered bodies of Mario’s opponents. The breeze is gentle, and the fluffy clouds above smile upon the world beneath them. The flowers dance pointedly, urging the three to their destination on the horizon.

It’s not as if there’s another atmosphere, it’s all the same air, all the same life as the Hospital, the Gulag, the House, the Island. It just feels freer.

As Victoria runs, she feels freer. Atop a hill, she stops and takes in a deep breath of fresh air. _Is this what freedom feels like? Is this what change looks like?_ She sure hopes it does, as she smiles and basks in the sunlight.

Waves of shade cover Victoria in brief bursts, much to her confusion. She looks up and sees a young girl soaring overhead, her feathered wings fluttering with color like a rainbow.

 _She doesn’t seem to be a threat_ , Victoria ponders. She waves at the flying girl and says to her, “Oh, hello!”

The flying girl - Sarah Lee - lands and turns to look at Victoria. “Are you friendly?”

“Yeah. I’m Victoria Chase, I’m here to get you out of here. You’re-”

“Sarah Lee. Nice to meet you.”

Victoria holds out her hand and Sarah Lee shakes it. “Nice to meet you too. Your brother says you’re a good kid.”

Her face glows as she asks of Jacob, “He’s safe?”

“Safe and sound. Him and his friends, and about four dozen other people. As I said, I’m here to get you out of here.”

Sarah Lee sighs in disappointment and tells Victoria, “Aw, I don’t want to leave just yet. Not without saying goodbye to King Mamu.”

Victoria shrugs her shoulders, not really caring for the despot. “Trust me, he’ll be fine.” She’s forgetting something, she knows it… _Oh, yeah_. “Wait, is there anyone else with him?”

“Lots of people, I’ve been helping him find them all! He’s given us a place to stay in his factory.”

With shifty eyes, Victoria asks Sarah Lee, “Is this a ransom?”

Sarah Lee answers with a laugh, thinking the idea a bit ridiculous as she shakes her head. “No, just… let him explain.”

Victoria crosses her arms and laughs fakely, doubting that statement. “I will most certainly-”

A tune whistles through the wind. Without a moment’s notice, a swirling vortex, six feet in stature, spirits away the two girls, headed straight for the fortress out in the distance.

Luigi hurries over, knowing the song of the Warp Whistle well. He calls out to her, “Miss-a Victoria!”, but she’s gone.

* * *

Across fields of grass and sand, past baddies galore, around the building itself, and into the shipping docks below goes the Warp Whistle’s whirlwind. It drops off the two, allowing Victoria to finish: “-NOT let him explainnnnnuh, what the hell just happened?” She looks at the Whales lying in wait in the water, sleeping as tiny birds soar over their heads.

“Welcome to King Mamu’s factory: ‘Yume Kōjō’.”

Victoria turns her eyes from Sarah Lee to the girders holding the place up, as well as the sleeping Whales. “Nifty name. I guess he uses these whales to transmit bad dreams. Maybe they’ve got weapons.”

“Either way, you’ve got a good imagination.”

“I try.”, Victoria says, giggling. The laughter ends quickly, however, as a door atop some stairs. Out of it steps a Mouser and a Birdo, and they look just about ready to fight. “Well, shit, uh, it’s you. You’re…”

“Real as a donut, blondie.”, Mouser answers harshly, glaring at Victoria through the shades on his face.

Birdo chimes in, “Bwoom. Bwoo-bw-bwo!”

While Victoria doesn’t understand a word coming out of Birdo’s snout, Sarah Lee does. “It’s okay, she’s here to speak with King Mamu.”

Mouser lightly nods his head, “Oh, so she’s the one the boss called?”, before pointing at Victoria and asking her, “You with the Mario Brothers?”

Without skipping a beat, Victoria lies, “No.” An egg to the face, shot out of Birdo’s snout, makes her correct herself quickly, “Fine, I am! Er, I was.”

Sarah Lee informs the two goons, “She doesn’t mean any harm. Right?”

Victoria answers, perturbed and rubbing her wounded cheek, “Yeah. Just trying to negotiate here. Jesus.”

Birdo motions for the two to follow her, and they do, leaving Mouser behind to guard the docks.

On the brisk walk through the factory, Victoria can see the walls lined with row upon row of books. Artistry - paintings and photographs - hang on the walls, but there’s something off about them in that they’re clearly abandoned works; sketches, linework, inkings, all undone but still attempted. _I guess the books are the same then. Incomplete, left alone as is._ She can think back on a few shoots of her own that she left behind.

At the end of the hall, a gate with the face of a bird awaits. As the three ladies approach, it opens its mouth to grant them access to King Mamu’s elegant office. There, he sits - a giant frog with a royal blue cape on his back - on his comfy leather chair. Heartily, with a sort of rhythm to his words, he declares, “Ah, just the woman we were hoping to see.”

“Who’s ‘we’?”

Two ghosts rise from the floor, standing next to Mamu as he answers, “Supporters of the Black Goat, as she supports us. She brings to us light and life upon the Astral Plane.”

“Hm.” Victoria crosses her arms; she’s not buying it. “I take it you’re King Mamu?”

He laughs, though the two ghosts don’t get why as they look at each other and nod. “Correct, young lady! I am the Great Ruler of Subcon!”

Victoria rolls her eyes. “Do your subjects refer to you as such? I know two guys who certainly don’t.”

“You speak of a younger me, madam. The me who led my army into unjust conflict, who took the crown by force. But as Ms. Hackerman can inform you, that is not what I have done now.”

Victoria looks over to Sarah Lee, and she explains, “He told me he won democratically. There was a vote, and he got the crown.”

Noticing that she’s still not buying it, the ghosts walk over to Victoria and begin to take shape. “I get it, kid. Trust me, I played the game too.” Judging by Victoria’s odd looks in his direction, the ghost chuckles in embarrassment. “Where are my manners? I’m Esteban Diaz. My friend here is William Price.” He holds his hand out for Victoria to shake it.

“Yeah, I know you. You actually fixed my car once.” She shakes Esteban’s hand and looks over at the other ghost, William Price; she’s heard his name once or twice. “And you’re… Chloe’s dad.”

William nods his head with a smile on his face, “That would indeed be me. I believe we’ve met before.”

Victoria raises an eyebrow, not sure what he’s talking about. _Sure, Esteban - vaguely, he helped me once - but Chloe’s dad?_ “We have?”

He sighs, figuring that she wouldn’t remember his stage performance back in 2010, the night of Chloe’s stage debut. “Nevermind, sorry.”

Victoria shrugs it off. “Small world… Anyways, you two are working with this guy?”

Esteban explains to her, “We’re here because there’s an insidious plot at hand. One that goes against the Black Goat’s plan.”

 _I must be going crazy_ , Victoria ponders to herself. “I just gotta wrap my head around that, because, uh, Isn’t SHE the bad guy here?”

Mamu chimes in to add, “It’s more complicated than that.”

“I mean, she’s been kidnapping people! She stole Seattle, Beaver Creek, probably more places as we speak!”

“I get it, Victoria, but she’s doing this for the benefit of the world. It’s not ideal, sure, but what’s happening is gonna go a long way with helping people.”

Victoria glares at Mamu, but he can only tell her the truth: “The Black Goat will save your people. Whether you accept it or not, her plan is in your favor.”

She’s done fighting. “I guess you can put me in the latter camp, hm? Just tell me where your prisoners are.”

Mamu heartily cackles, “You’re not looking for my prisoners, you’re looking for my guests.”

“Same thing!”

He shakes his head. “No. Not at all.” Mamu hops off of his throne and begins making his way for the door, with Sarah Lee, Esteban and William following suit. “Come. Let us- Oh, hang on.” His phone is ringing, so he pulls it out of his cape and answers. On the other end, it sounds like a panic of action and explosions. “So I’ve gathered… Very well.” He hangs up the phone and it transforms into a recorder.

After producing a small ditty from the instrument, another mini-tornado blows into the room, bringing with it the Brothers. “Miss-a Victoria! There you are!”, says a frazzled Luigi. Victoria waves back at him, happy to see that him and Mario are alright.

Mario’s back up on his feet and he’s ready to battle Mamu once more. “What is your-a plan here, Wart?”

Before Mamu can answer, Victoria answers for him: “Nothing. He’s on our side, I suppose. We’re just gonna have to trust him.”

“And the Black Goat.”, Sarah Lee adds.

“And the Black Goat.”, Victoria repeats.

Mamu lets out another laugh, happy to see the whole gang together. “Now, if you’ll just follow me, I’ll show you the barracks.” He hops along to a secret stairwell by the back of the office, and the group follows him.

* * *

Outside, there aren’t rusted cells or shacks that house the guests from the waking world. They reside in small but sizable houses, built in the form of mushrooms, to keep them comfortable and safe from any outside dangers. “There’s about two dozen guests here.”, Mamu explains.

While the Brothers and Sarah Lee get to work on gathering the guests together, Victoria asks the King, “Are you finding more people?”

“We’re averaging three survivors per hour.”

 _That’s reassuring_. Victoria nods her head and says, “Good. We’ll be taking them from here. My friend’s house is located on this really lovely field up North.”

Mamu plays a note on his recorder and sees out to the world beyond Subcon. But he doesn’t see a house… “I see an apartment building. And it’s growing too. It looks like the place you described. Green fields, giant mountains, a lovely horizon. Would you like to travel there?”

“Yeah. Yes, please.”

“Very well. Supposing that you’re a just person, you’re always welcome to my domain, Victoria.”

“I’ll consider it.” Victoria walks over to the gathering crowd, with Mario, Luigi and Sarah Lee accompanying them too.

“Do take care, Sarah Lee.” Before he can play the recorder, the girl flies over to Mamu and gives him a hug, which the King returns with a smile on his face. After she rejoins the crowd, Mamu delivers one last message to the crowd: “Stay safe, travellers! May the Black Goat grant you protection in these trying times!”

And in an instant, they’re whisked away by the warping, whistling whirlwind to safety. To home.

But something still bugs Victoria, and she knows it. She just saw ghosts. Dead men, reborn from dreams, straight from the minds of loved ones... _Did I do the same of Courtney and Taylor?_ She shivers thinking about it. Does she really want to know the truth?

Is that the truth?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It should be said that I got the idea of Sarah Lee getting really cool wings from an amazing piece of LiS2 fanart created by Kissun13 on Tumblr. Check out their stuff, it's very good!
> 
> Link: https://baby-prince-oppa.tumblr.com/post/190960348695/it-is-official-youre-now-a-fully-fledged-member


	8. A House Half-Full

In the distance, full of rich green glades of grass, Victoria can see the house approaching nearer and nearer… except it’s not a house, not anymore; as it draws closer, she sees an apartment complex in its stead. Nothing too big, but it’s not the little two-story summer home it was before.

Sitting in wait on a bench outside, with a face full of optimism, is Jessica. The second Victoria and the other survivors regain their footing and the tornado disperses, she does not hesitate to hug her family friend. “Oh, thank God! Are you alright, you’re not hurt or anything?”

Victoria tiredly returns the hug and tells her, “I’m fine, Jess. Just a little tired from… everything that’s happened over the course of the past two days. Are you doing good too?”

“Yes.”, Jessica says as she leads Victoria and the group into the house. “I’m actually just kicking back, pretty much. I figured I’d be the caretaker but it seems like everybody just had to settle in on their own once they got here. And they did.”

Lyla opens the front door, accompanied by the drifters, smiles all around. She waves and happily answers, “Hey, Victoria!”

Victoria lets out a calming laugh, happy to see safety in their spirits. “You had no troubles getting here on your own?”

“None at all. What happened to you?”

Victoria sighs, too tired to explain it all. “I got sidetracked. A lot.” She seals the sentence with a grin as she looks at the lobby - formerly the living room - and how it has transformed.

The furniture’s a pastiche, formed from personal taste throughout the apartment’s populace: rich leather seating, slick plastic tables, smooth tile floors, fuzzy carpets, and much, much more. Pictures and paintings hang on the wall, created by people of all ages from all denizens of the building. Spotless windows welcome the glorious sunlight, shining through with heavenly rays of warmth.

“What matters is that you got us here, safe and sound. Thanks.”

“You’re very welcome.”, she tells Lyla. As she looks around at all the happiness, she spots a reunion: Jacob and Sarah Lee, hugging it out, safe and sound together with their friends and a roof over their heads. That reminds her… “Where are Taylor and Courtney?”

Jessica leads Victoria two flights of stairs to an office space, blank and barren, where Courtney and Taylor and waiting inside. As they step out quickly, Victoria smiles at them, “So, um, hi.” _Oh, God, how do I phrase this?_ “Are you two… real?”

“Of course we are. We’d have to be.”

Victoria shakes her head and corrects herself: “No, yeah, I get that. But I mean, are you two… yourselves- are you two the original Courtney and Taylor?”

The change in both of their faces - from smiles to stress - reveals one part of the answer. “Not wholly.” adds another.

“I sorta had a suspicion. Plus, seeing the Party Parents’ kid really… really got me thinking.” 

“They had a kid?”

“No- yeah- uh… kinda?” Victoria sighs, pondering to herself _I am so bad at explaining this. I nearly confused myself!_ “I guess they dreamt of him, manifested him into being on the Astral Plane. Guess who else I saw?”

“Your parents?”, Jessica asks, woefully optimistic.

Victoria glances over to her, wishing she were right. “No. But I did get to meet Chloe’s dad. Not David. I’m talking about her biological dad, William. Him and Esteban Diaz, that guy who got shot in Seattle a couple years back.”

“So you’re thinking Taylor and Courtney are… ghosts that you dreamt up?”

In unison, Courtney and Taylor inform Jessica, “‘Tulpas’ is the word you’re looking for.”

A storm forms in Victoria’s mind, only remedied by her own involuntary laughter. She's heard that word before, and it spooked her then. But now? _I can’t believe this. I might be going crazy._ As Taylor reaches a hand out to comfort her, Victoria steps away - not that she means to - and assures her, “It’s alright, it’s okay, I don’t… why am I even thinking about this? It doesn’t matter, it was stupid of me-”

Jessica places a hand on her friend’s shoulder and tells her simply and softly, “Vic, it wasn’t stupid of you. It was actually pretty smart of you.”

Victoria crosses her arms, not knowing what to make of the situation. Jessica’s real - _duh, she always has been_ \- but Courtney and Taylor, on some level, just arent. They’re still…

Courtney looks at Taylor before asking Victoria, “Do you want us to give you some space?”

Victoria quickly shakes her head. “No, no. Please don’t leave me. It’s just that I… I’m scared. I don’t wanna lose you two again, I-I-I can’t.” As Jessica keeps a hold on her, Victoria begins grumbling the truth to herself: “This always happens. There’s always a catch… I deserve this. Like always.”

Jessica’s grasp tightens as she looks her daughter- family friend in the eyes. “Don’t you dare say that about yourself, Victoria. You’re better than you think you are! There’s a reason that you survived Arcadia Bay, that you got that standing ovation as Ophelia, that you got your Bachelor’s Degree, that you’ve fought evil… dream demons, and that you’re saving people’s lives!”

“Was it fate?”

Jessica doesn’t quite shake her head, but she does answer, “No… Not wholly, not even mostly. It was because YOU did it.” She can see the anxiety in Victoria’s face fade away as a smile forms in its place. “So some things don’t go your way. Some things aren’t as they seem. Are you gonna let that get you down? After everything you’ve been through?”

Victoria wobbles, her body and soul filled with resolve. “No.”

Courtney chimes in, “We may just be manifestations of your grief, and we may go away one day, but we remember what you remember: the best of times. Those movie nights at the dorms, that time we drove to Portland to check out that roller rink, those beer pong tournaments we won together, it was all real. You’ll never lose us, Vic.”

“We’re sorry.”, adds Taylor.

Victoria raises her hands and reassures them, “You don’t have to apologize. I’m not mad at any of you. I’m just tired.”

Jessica remarks, seeing Victoria’s anxious state, “You should go get some rest. Let me help you.” Gently, she pushes Victoria along the hallway of rooms past Taylor and Courtney’s office space. The two wave her goodbye for now, knowing that she needs some time off, before returning to their own room.

After a few seconds of walking past occupied apartments, Jessica leads Victoria to an unclaimed room. For a second, it is barren. But within the blink of an eye, it settles into a room of Victoria’s mental liking.

Spotting the fluffy bed before her eyes, Victoria quickly falls onto it without any hesitation. Jessica lets out a laugh as she lays a soft and cozy blanket over her sleepy friend. “Sweet dreams, Vic.”, Jessica wishes as she plants a kiss on her forehead before walking out quietly, closing the door behind her.

Victoria’s mind soothes as she rests her aching body, only slightly tossing and turning. She re-affirms herself gently as she drifts: _I am pretty, I am loved._

* * *

The Sun shines on an almost-empty Seattle, a Seattle that is too quiet for the bustling city that it usually is. All life - the humans, the flora, the fauna - all gone, prisoners of the Astral Plane.

But sitting alone, awaiting some friends from out of town, is the blue-haired Alex, having aged not even a day, fiddling with her handheld radio. Without any noise, she can hear a lot approaching; footsteps, military chatter, weapons clatter. And they’re getting closer.

In that distance, growing even closer, she can hear a dialogue: “No need to worry, Director. We know her. Yeah, from the wendigos. Mhm. Okay, we’ll stay in touch.” Leading the pack are Max and Chloe, accompanied by something of a small army; Agent Flores, Agents Tyler and Alyson Ronan, Kate Marsh, Dana Ward, Daniel Diaz, Dr. Jonathan Reid, Lady Asbury, and a shitload of armed soldiers. As Alex catches a glimpse of the approaching army, Max waves to her with a smile on her face, hoping to lighten the mood.

Alex smiles back and says, “Hello, you. It’s been a while.”

As Max stops the crowd, Chloe pulls out a notepad from one of the pockets on her blazer. “Uh, formalities. This is Agent Caulfield, I’m Agent Price. We’re with the Federal Bureau of Control. And all these people are our friends. If you have any questions for our lovely Director, Jesse Faden, she’s right here.”

Chloe pulls out a radio with her free hand, and it snarkily speaks in the voice of the FBC’s Director: “Thanks for all the introductions, Agent Price.”

Chloe swiftly continues, “We take it you’re here to help.”

Alex nods her head, happy to see friends before her. “Yeah, I’m just gonna cut to the chase: there’s a lot of craziness going on on the Astral Plane, and we need to get to the bottom of solving it. What do you all know?”

The heroes have answers, and maybe a few questions of their own.

Kate: “That the Black Goat’s behind everything.”

Chloe: “And there’s an Old Man who’s been abducting whole towns.”

Daniel: “They took friends of mine, all gone in a flash.”

Tyler: “And a bunch of evil mind demons are working together to hurt those people!”

Dr. Reid: “They must be vanquished at once!”

Flores… actually has a question: “How do we save everyone?”

Alex chuckles, happy to hear something direct. “We go to the lady up top: the Black Goat. We find her, we talk to her, and we formulate a plan on bringing everyone home. Got it?”

The crowd discusses, and they unanimously agree, much to Alex’s delight.

Dana explains what she knows: “We’re pretty sure the Black Goat’s in this place in Hell called the Neon Region. It wasn’t too hard to get there, but she was definitely well-guarded.”

“That’s just another spot in the Astral Plane, no worries. Shouldn’t be too hard to get there.”

Max also has a question, asking on her personal friends’ behalf: “Are Victoria and Jessica still safe?”

“Oh, Victoria’s been busy; took down the Mad Hunter, led a coup on his game show-”

“Wait.” Tyler jumps in and asks Alex, absolutely dumbfounded, “The Mad Hunter ran a game show?”

“Mhm. ‘Fall Guys’. Ever heard of it?”

Alyson looks at her brother, eyebrows raised, and remarks, “Well, that’s… something I never thought I’d hear a 'yes' answer to. At least he's not a threat anymore.”

In a whisper, Chloe quickly asks Max, “Should I, uh, uninstall it when we get home?”

Max whispers back, a bit regretful, “Maybe?” They both quite liked that game. _‘Tis a sad day._

“Anyways, she then travelled to Subcon with the Mario Brothers, and-”

Kate, wanting to get to the point, asks Alex, “Where is she now?”

“Also, did you just say she met the Mario Brothers?”, Daniel asks, giddy as ever.

“Oh, at this nice little house her friends built. Long story short, Victoria and Jessica are safe and sound.” Alex then looks down at Daniel and answers his question: “And yes, she met the Mario Brothers.”

Chloe bumps Daniel’s shoulder and chuckles with him before declaring, “Holy crap. That’s awesome.”

Max decides to get right to the point, as she tells Alex, “Let’s go meet up with them then.”

“I like the way you think!” Alex fiddles with her radio, and a triangular portal opens in the sky. Its destination: … not the House.

So she tries again! Its new destination: … still not the House.

Worry begins to linger in the air. “Uh, this usually works.”

* * *

It won’t work so long as Mantroid wills it. His sinister aura emanates around the House - Mantroid himself located out back by the AC units - acting as a barrier for the waking world’s reinforcements. With vats of lava stored in rock barrels on a crimson wagon, he has his plot at hand: he wants to see fire, hear screams, feel the burn.

He puts a pipe in the vents, with one end pouring in the lava. Now, it is Mantroid’s time to strike, and everyone else’s turn to burn.


	9. The Floor Is Lava!

Something’s burning. It doesn’t exactly smell like smoke but it isn't any better either. Slowly, Victoria opens her eyes as feeling returns to her body. Not even five minutes ago, she took her nap, but now something's burning. _I’m so tiiiiired… Ugh, “no rest for the wicked”, I suppose._ She quickly pivots herself to get out of bed, but she’s shocked to see what has happened to the floor.

It is absolutely covered in lava.

Victoria groans, looking for a way out, when she notices that her discarded blanket is dipping into the lava… and also not burning. She pulls it back on board her bed and holds it by the corners before quickly tossing it onto the lava below.

It still doesn’t burn, instead acting as a steady-looking platform. A proud smile forms on Victoria’s face as she steps onto the blanket and stands still, hoping not to slip. _Works like a charm! It doesn't even burn!_

Victoria grabs her pillow too, tosses it to the door, and jumps onto it, though it isn’t as stable as the blanket. She wobbles a bit before regaining control over herself, and she swiftly reaches for the doorknob. Carefully, she opens the door and sees that the lava is flooding the whole building, pouring in from the ventilations shafts near the floor. Standing in the halls, balancing on a variety of platforms - pots, tubs, carpets, chairs, rocking horses - are Victoria’s neighbors, just as fearful and confused as she is.

And among them is Jessica, standing on a dresser, looking down at the lava fretfully. Victoria calls out to her, “Jessica!”

Jessica looks up at her and asks, “Vic, are you alright?”

Victoria nods her head, trying to pass off that she isn't freaking out even a little bit, “I’m doing fine, just… very confused!” She wishes to get closer to her, but the problem lies in distance. She motions for Jessica to toss a drawer from the dresser onto the lava, hoping to lessen the gap, and Jessica cautiously does so.

Victoria carefully plans out the jump, all the while pulling herself out of the bedroom for a clearer shot and a shorter jump.

Quietly, from behind, a skull-faced knight of jagged crimson armor emerges from the lava, unsheathing his sword from his hilt. “Victoria, look out!”, Jessica shouts as she points at the villain standing behind her.

Upon turning to see the villain aiming to strike her down, Victoria does not hesitate to jump to the drawer, narrowly avoiding as his sword swings where she once stood.

As Victoria reaches her target, Jessica reaches out to hold her hands. Cautiously, Victoria stabilizes herself until she stops wobbling around and finds her balance. Now safe, Victoria asks her, “How did this happen?”

“Mantroid happened.”, explains Taylor and Courtney in unison, floating in mid-air, totally making Victoria not jealous.

Envy aside, Victoria has no clue who that is. “Wanna explain who that is?"

“He is a galaxy-travelling scourge with the face of death and armor of blood.” _That sounds terrifying._ “... Created by Chris Eriksen.” _That sounds… like a name I’ve never heard before._

Victoria quickly cracks her knuckles, already accepting that she has to kick this guy's ass, and tells the three, “I’ll stop him. Watch out for everyone else. We’re all on the same boat here.” Unfortunately, she doesn’t know how to find Mantroid, nor how to lure him out… _Wait… DING!_ That lightbulb shines bright in her frazzled mind as she has an idea: “Actually, I could use one of those. How do we get boats in here?”

Jessica shrugs her shoulders and answers, “Just think one up? It worked for me.", she says, tapping on the dresser.

And so, Victoria does just that, focusing, concentrating, manifesting a boat… which unfortunately got stuck in the walls a few feet over their heads. “Oops.” She quickly manifests another and it rests on the lava, rocking along the tide as calmly as if it were a river of water.

As she steps onto the boat, Jessica gives her a caring smile. “Kick his ass, Vic!”

“Oh, I plan to, Jess. Trust me, you have nothing to fear.", she remarks with defusing laughter. _It's my job now._

With two oars now in her hands, Victoria begins paddling down the hallway in a bit of a hurry, past her other new neighbors as they attempt to balance on their own makeshift islands.

As she paddles further, she feels someone swimming underneath. No doubt it’s Mantroid. After paddling into a clearing, the lava starts to bubble and boil like it's ready to erupt. Victoria lays down in the boat and braces herself, hanging on for dear life.

Within seconds, the boat is propelled into the air as it crashes through the ceilings overhead. Victoria would be screaming if she weren’t so shocked; instead, she’s frozen, filled with tranquil fear.

Once the boat catches back up with gravity and lands on the roof, she doesn’t even try to immediately exit it. She just takes deep breaths and accepts that she somehow survived that. _Just gonna take a breather before my lungs and heart explode. I’ve gotta start appreciating those more._

Another shock comes with the sound of a violent thud landing beside the boat, which then transforms into footsteps that grow closer, louder, more violent with each approach.

_Please don’t see me._

Mantroid sees her. _CRAP!_

Effortlessly, he lifts Victoria out of the boat with one hand before tossing the vehicle aside with the other. He stares at her as she tries in vain to kick and punch him, all while he fails to see what the big deal is about her. “You’re just another pathetic little human.” Regardless, she amuses him and he promptly lets go of her.

Victoria does not hesitate to get back up on her feet, her hands furiously balled up into fists, ready to start pummeling his skull in.


	10. The Roof Is On Fire!

Mantroid looks down upon Victoria, confused and amused. “How did a woman like YOU beat the Mad Hunter?”

Victoria tells him nothing, only glaring back at his jagged figure, like his mere presence is unconnected from reality.

He scoffs, “The Other mentioned that you’d be chattier.” He snaps his fingers and a cage of flames surrounds them both. “Silence will only serve to-”

 _Okay, this guy’s getting annoying._ “Can we just get this over with?”

“Fine. Let us dance.”, Mantroid scoffs as he unsheathes his greatsword, wielding it with ease.

Victoria quickly looks around, trying to find a weapon of her own. Suddenly, it hits her. Literally, as Mantroid tosses one of the oars at her chest. “Ow.”, she says before picking up the oar. _How chivalrous_.

Mantroid strikes at Victoria, spinning around with the greatsword in his hand. She barely manages to dodge the attack by falling onto her back and rolling away from him.

Dazed, Mantroid slows down and attempts to catch his breath, leaving him open for attack. Victoria does not hesitate to hit his back with the oar three times in a row, putting a crack in it.

Mantroid then turns back around to face Victoria and manages to swat her away, sending her tumbling across the roof. As she shakes her head to wake herself back up, she spots the villain charging at her like a raging animal.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she rolls out of the way, leaving Mantroid to crash against the wall of flames he created. He burns briefly, rushing to pat himself down and extinguish the flames.

Again, Victoria makes quick work of Mantroid’s backside, striking at it with the oar several more times.

But amidst the darkness within Mantroid’s body, a voice - that of a boy no older than 13 - weakly calls out to Victoria: “Help… me.”

As she looks inside, she can see the boy sitting there, entangled in dark webs. “I’m gonna get you out of there!”

Mantroid’s head spins 180 degrees, spotting Victoria in a moment of shock. “I find that unlikely.” Again, he slashes at Victoria manically, trying to take her down.

For a meek little human, she’s doing a good job dodging his attacks still.

For a meek little human, she’s really good with that oar.

For a meek little human, she’s really starting to piss him off.

Mantroid roars into the sky, enraged at her continued survival. “Be still and DIE, God damn you!”

He again attempts to impale Victoria on his sword, she dodges the attack almost easily. “No.”, she smugly responds, tooth-bearing grin included. With his back once again turned to her, she strikes at his spine with her oar, shattering the armor and exposing the boy within - Chris Eriksen AKA Captain Spirit - to the light of the Astral Plane.

As Mantroid recovers, Victoria leaps into his body to recover Chris. She grabs his arms and begins pulling him out of the tar-like goop housed within Mantroid’s armor.

Victoria pushes onward, to the light, but she quickly notices that the light is waning; Mantroid’s armor is re-sealing itself. And so, she pushes forward, with Chris still in tow, and the light grows stronger.

Fortunately, the two escape Mantroid, jumping out at the last possible second, into the open. But the villain only laughs: “You think I need the Captain to kill you, girl?”

“Sure looks like it.” His body’s falling apart, melting away like ice cream left in the Sun.

Mantroid grits his teeth and roars as he attempts to harden his body. It’s working, just not very well. “No matter! I must make the most of what time I have left!” To save himself some more time, he snaps his fingers once more and the fire surrounding the three vanishes.

 _Make that two_ , as Chris is lowered back indoors to the safety of Jessica, Taylor and Courtney. _It’s just me and him now_ , Victoria internally remarks.

He charges at Victoria, filled with rage as he swings his sword at her.

She doesn’t have to dodge, instead using her oar to slice off his attacking arm. It lands on the floor, melting away like an ice cube. _This should be easy!_ Slowly, menacingly, she approaches him, raring to strike in her combative stance.

Mantroid is so full of fear that he fails to notice that she’s leading him to the edge of the rooftop. As he realizes almost a second too late, he falls over. He hangs on with his spare hand, but he knows it won’t last. “You may haven’t beaten me, but you won’t defeat the Master!”

Victoria scoffs. “I highly doubt that.” She aims the oar at his face and demands, “Start talking before I start smacking! Where’s your boss?”

“Ah, the Black Goat.” Mantroid cackles, relishing in his truth. “If you really want her, she’s located in the Neon Re- er, in the Wet-Dry World…” Suddenly, it hits him, as seen in the shock on his face and in his voice: “Wait! That’s not what I was gonna say!”

 _Weird. Eh._ “Thanks for your cooperation.” Victoria smacks his hand, sending him falling onto the barrel of lava he had prepared down below, which explodes as he lands on it.

Within seconds, the lava inside the building begins to pour out from the vents in the hallways. As Victoria returns, Jessica asks, “Hey, are you okay?”

“Never better.”, she answers with a smile on her face.

As life returns to “normal” (for now, at least), Victoria spots another reunion: Lyla hugs Chris tightly. “I’m glad you’re safe!”

As Chris returns the hug, he asks her, “Where’s Daniel?”

 _RING RING._ Victoria walks over, avoiding several stray puddles of lava, and picks up the phone. “Hello?”

On the other end, Max answers, “He’s safe.”

 _I know that voice..._ "Max?! You're alive!"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Victoria holds herself steady, almost about to cry with the knowledge that her friend is safe. "B-but how- I mean, thank God you're alright, but I don't get it."

"It's a long story. How are you holding up, Vic?”

Victoria clears her throat and answers, “I’ve been pretty busy. Just defeated my second supervillain.” She chuckles to herself, “Hey, maybe you can give me some training when this is all over?”

Max laughs with Victoria before answering, “We’ll see. Where are you headed now?”

“I’m thinking the beach. Mantroid told me where the Black Goat is.”

Confused, Jessica asks, “There’s a beach?”

Victoria points to one of the nearby windows, where she can see a sandy shore a walking distance away. “That’s how we’re gonna get her. 'Wet-Dry World', he called it.”

“Well, just wait on my signal, okay?”, Max asks her.

Victoria resolutely answers, “Okay. Talk to you later!”, before hanging up.


	11. WDW-NEA

Waves crash along the shores, a deeper blue than the vast expanse of the sky. Within that deep blue abyss, a darkness awaits in the lair of the Black Goat that Mantroid spoke of.

 _This seems to be the spot_ , Victoria notes as she sees the wooden sign with the words “Wet-Dry World” inscribed upon it.

She’ll be heading there soon, but not until she gets Max’s signal. Until then, she’s gonna live in the moment, lying on the warm sand with Jessica by her side, sitting pretty on a comfy-looking lounge chair with a cold drink in her hand.

 _This is it. We beat her, we all go home… right?_ Victoria takes a handful of sand and lets the grains slowly spill out of her grasp. “I’d be lying if I said I’m not gonna miss this place.”

Jessica hums in agreement. Despite how weird everything’s been, she’s glad she at least got this chance to work with Victoria in such emotional circumstances. It feels like it’s been years since she’s last seen Victoria this happy, like the Storm never hit. It feels like this moment could last forever.

But of course, it can’t. The radio by her side begins chiming in with beeps and boops, and Max’s voice comes over it: “Victoria. It’s time.”

As the music resumes, Victoria rises from her chair and tells Jessica, “I’m going in.” Quickly, she begins equipping herself with the proper diving gear: an oxygen tank, a diving mask, a small radio, a pair of oversized flippers, and a harpoon gun.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t go with you?”

“We wouldn’t want to beat this Black Goat too quickly, right?” Jessica rolls her eyes, trying not to laugh, as Victoria continues, “But I think we can handle this ‘Other Max’. I appreciate your concern. Thanks.”

Jessica stands up and gifts Victoria a peck on the cheek, telling her, “Stay safe down there. And good luck.”

And so, Victoria marches into the water, splashing as she disappears beneath the waves.

* * *

There is only blue in the deep distance down below. In that void, the Black Goat awaits.

Victoria lets herself sink, following the bubbles as they rise from below. She’s scared of what awaits her, but she’s also ready to cross that bridge. At least she’ll have Max to help her, _so how bad can it really be?_

As she plummets deeper, she starts seeing white square buildings of ancient design, lying abandoned amidst the darkness below. It is illuminated brightly, as if it were on the surface, but it looks empty too.

Carefully, Victoria makes her landing on a dome surrounding the town. She seeks a way inside and finds it in the form of a kite-shaped hatch, decorated in the colors of the rainbow. “Down we go.”, she tells herself as she opens the hatch and climbs down a long, long ladder.

The lower she goes, the colder she feels; not in temperature - _it feels reasonably warm in here_ \- but in anxiety, like a chill has run through her nerves, snaking its way to her brain. She shakes it off, thinking nothing of it as she continues the descent.

Upon finishing the climb, she sets foot in the town with a splash. _Must’ve been a flood_ , considering that there’s no one responding to the noise besides herself. _Who lived here?_

As she walks forward, keeping her attention set on the corners in her sight, she can feel someone else’s presence in the town - _the Black Goat, no doubt_ \- and she knows that they’re watching her.

This is only confirmed when a genuine chuckle, like someone’s just heard a funny joke, echoes through the drowned town. Victoria quickly arms herself with the harpoon gun, though she doesn’t aim it just yet. _It’s her, she’s here…_ Slowly, Victoria backs up against a wall, unfortunately out in the open.

“How did you get this far?”, asks a husky feminine voice - the source of the chuckle - as it echoes around the area.

Looking around nervously, Victoria remarks, “I kicked your friends’ asses, and one of them told me how to find you.” _Something’s not right_ , Victoria ponders, questioning the tone of the supposed Black Goat. _For a “Mistress of Nightmares”, she doesn’t have that… royalty in her tone. She does sound familiar…_

“I assure you, Victoria, I’m not going to go easy on you, not like last time. No Max to save you, no Jessica to care for you…” The mysterious villainess starts giggling to herself before resuming, “No Dark Room to shelter you from my wrath.”

Whatever she’s implying, Victoria doesn’t like it. “The hell’s that supposed to mean?”

“I’m a goddess, Victoria… No. I’m better.” Upon saying that, the Other Max emerges from the church in the center of town, her darkened antlers pulsating with malevolent energies in search of Victoria.

* * *

Jessica naps with a smile on her face, content in the knowledge that her ~~daughter~~ family friend is going to save the world. Mr. and Mrs. Chase would be proud of her, just as much as she is.

Suddenly, she’s awoken by a tap on her shoulder. Looking up, she sees Max standing behind her with her entourage of heroes in tow. “Where’s Victoria?”

Jessica looks around, confused, and tells her, “She said you called her.”

“I didn’t call her.” But Max has a good idea who did, and that knowledge terrifies her. “We need to get down there now!”

Alex pulls out her radio and declares, “I’m on it!”, before tuning the radio and creating a triangular portal with its signal.

* * *

Slinking around sharp corners, Victoria aims her gun at the echoing taunts stalking her.

The Other Max laughs in amusement - _she keeps on laughing, dammit!_ \- while steadily approaching closer and closer. “I didn’t think you’d missed me so much.”

“‘Miss you’? I’ve never met you!”

“Is that so?” The laugh goes on, travelling around the town before flying at Victoria’s face. She blinks, reopening her eyes to see an old rival pacing forward. Her black antlers shrinking into her skull, the rival’s appearance becomes clearer: red plaid shirt, black torn jeans, long blonde hair with a blue feather earring. “Do you recognize me now?”

 _It can’t be…_ “Rachel?” Without thinking, Victoria aims the harpoon gun at Amber’s apparent apparition.

Rachel snickers, bemused by Victoria’s thoughts. “I take it you’re gonna try to kill me?” Slowly, Victoria lowers the gun, confused. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve already won.” Without warning, she grabs the harpoon gun out of her hands and breaks it over her knee. “Whoops. Sorry.”

Victoria can’t move. Her muscles are frozen but her mind isn’t. Enraged, she curses at Rachel, though her jaws won’t open to let her speak. _What is she doing here_ , Victoria ponders.

“Tying up loose ends. Don’t worry, you’re at the top of my list.”

_She heard me?_

Rachel nods her head slowly. “Crazy that it’s taken me this long to take you out! Seven years ago, the deed should’ve been done… Crazy to think how the Dark Room killed me but saved you. I got close though. Your parents say ‘hi’.”

_What does she mean by that? Oh, God…_

A wide grin forms on Rachel’s face, sensing the feelings of Victoria’s realization. “That’s right, Vicky! You’re looking into the eyes of the Storm.”

 _That bitch!_ _I’ll kill you! Do you hear me?!_

Rachel answers with a snicker, “Loud and clear.”

Without an ounce of control in her bones, Victoria raises her fist and it collides with her own cheek, knocking herself out.

Her eyes close for but a brief second before reopening, blank and glowing blood red. The Sunken is in control, all according to Rachel’s sinister design. “You know what’s coming and what to do, correct?” The Sunken nod Victoria’s head and slowly rise to their feet. “Perfect!”

A few seconds pass until the heroes make their explosive entry through a triangular portal on an outer wall. Chloe aims her pistol at Rachel and shouts, “Freeze!”

“Right on cue…” Rachel chuckles before turning to Max, a sinister grin on her face: “How good of you to come-”

“Rachel?!”, Chloe shouts, shocked at the reappearance of her old friend.

Rachel takes a brief moment to look down at her clothes; to her surprise, she’s still looking as she naturally did. “Dammit, my disguise!” In a fit of rage, her antlers grow and wiggle about, with one wrapping around Victoria’s neck and lifting her up into the air.

“Put Victoria down!”

“No.” The other antler begins wiggling around the town, transforming into sharp knives and attacking the heroes at hand.

In the midst of the chaos, Max gets overwhelmed and pulled over to Rachel’s side almost immediately. “Maaaaaxiiiiine, we need to talk!” The antler worms its way around Max before piercing into her head just as it pierces into Victoria’s. “You, me, Vicky, that’s three! Time for some bonding…”

The antler-tentacles work their way around Max and Victoria’s brains, maneuvering through memories and connecting one to another through Rachel’s head. “How does the truth feel, Vic?”, she says as Victoria clutches her forehead with both hands in agony.

Max looks over and yells at Rachel, “Stop this! You’re hurting her!”

Rachel lets out a sinister cackle, which grows deeper by the second. “She won’t feel a thing! Well, not yet anyways.”

Max knows what she must do if she has to stop any more memories from leaking, so she grabs a gun and shoots herself in the head.

Rachel can only roll her eyes as she softly releases the corpse, but it is too late for Victoria as she has seen more than enough of Max’s memories: “Go ahead, kill yourself, I’ve proved my point!” She then lets go of Victoria, letting her fall to the floor hard. After that, her antlers retreat back into her own head and she vanishes in a whirlwind.

“Victoria, what happened?” She lies still on the floor, breathing steadily but not responding. Chloe runs to her side and shakes her a bunch, hoping she’ll wake up. “Victoria? C’mon, get up!” The heroes surround her, looking on in fear.

Still, Victoria lays there, defeated, glowing red eyes wide open. A prisoner to the demons in her head. The Sunken smirk for her at the outside world, joyful for Victoria’s presence in their clutches.


	12. The Mistress of Nightmares

The heroes march through Hell’s Neon Region, having heeded information from Kate and Dana.

“She’s right up ahead. Just keep going.”, says Kate, her heart filled with anxious anticipation.

Walking right beside her, Dana asks some of the other heroes, namely Alex and Chloe, “Do you think Victoria’s gonna be alright?”

Chloe’s apprehensive, knowing what Victoria most likely saw in Rachel’s attack.

Instead, Alex answers, “Jessica’s keeping an eye on her back at the house, so I’ll just say ‘yes’. That being said, I’ve dealt with the Sunken before. What they did to my friend Clarissa… it was ugly what happened.”

“What do you think Rachel showed her?” Dana looks over at Chloe and takes notice of the worry in her body. “Chloe? Sorry to ask but… do you know?”

“The truth.”

“‘The truth’? About what?”

Chloe sighs, scratching at the back of her neck. “Max is gonna kill me for telling you this… and you might too.” She looks at both her and Kate before explaining: “You remember the Storm. Obviously.”

Both women nod their heads, a little confused and a little afraid of the truth. “Uh huh.”

“Max had to make a decision, a sacrifice: either my life or everyone else’s. Nathan was gonna kill me in the bathroom earlier that Monday, but Max saved me. Turns out, if I were to die, then the Storm would never hit Arcadia Bay.”

“Oh…” Kate mumbles. Seeing as Chloe’s not handling this share very well, Kate puts a hand on her shoulder and tells her, “It’s not your fault, and it’s not Max’s fault either. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!”

Dana chimes in with a smile, “Yeah, we get it.”

Chloe chuckles, relieved to have their support. “Thanks, you two.” Still, the dark clouds hover over their heads, and Chloe calls it out: “I don’t want to imagine what Vic’s going through now.”

Alex reassures them all, “We’ll save her once this is all done. Maybe the Black Goat’ll have some kind of antidote.”

“Here’s hoping.”

The gates to the Black Goat’s domain open. In clear view of all the heroes, she sits in wait on her throne of stars, having known they were coming from their thoughts alone. She spots Kate and Dana, remembering their attempt on her life. “I would presume you have come to try and kill me again, but I sense more within your hearts.”

Chloe pushes past the crowd and points an accusatory finger at the Black Goat. “You know what you’ve done. You’re the leader of the Dream Demons.”

Silence befalls the goddess. “That is… an incorrect assumption.”

“Is it?”, Chloe pushes on.

“That’s right.”, Alex answers. She hurriedly approaches the Black Goat and curtsies before her. “My apologies, o great Mistress of Nightmares. We mean you no harm.”

The army of heroes groans, muttering amongst themselves in disbelief and shock. Chloe glares at her and asks, “What are you, changing sides now?”

Alex explains, “The Black Goat’s no saint, but she isn’t our true enemy.”

“Then what’s the use of the Old Man running around the world zapping people into the Astral Plane?”

The Black Goat hums to herself. “He is merely the sacrificial lamb through which sanctuary shall be found. When his usefulness has run out, he will cease to be.”

Chloe scoffs at the perceived lies: “‘Sanctuary’? You’re insane!”

“Look at your world. Look at how it has been ravaged by greed, plague, anxiety, intolerance. Tell me again that I am insane.”

Kate declares, “We can be better! We don’t need you.”

The Black Goat blankly looks into the souls of her seeming opponents and tells them, “But you do. In fact, you’ve always needed me. Who do you think grants you free transport to the Astral Plane when you descend into slumber? Who do you think plants the seeds of thought which will grow, aid you in finding love, pushing you to seek out hope in the darkness of impossible odds?”

Chloe laughs at this, hoping to dismiss the idea. “You’re not behind all that. That’s… no… Did you do it?”

The Black Goat chuckles under her breath before answering, “Whatever role I play in your worldly affairs, know that I am not the villain here.”

Chloe shouts, “Then what are the Dream Demons supposed to be? You’re the boss, aren’t you?”

“They are obstacles. Insolent, as I have learned, but conquerable in design. I had hoped they would be more subservient to my wishes, but I overestimated their willingness to cooperate. Fortunately, your friend Miss Chase has done a wonderful job straightening things out.”

Alex jumps in to tell the Black Goat, “Yeah, speaking of, we need your help. She had a run-in with… what’s-her-name, and I’m afraid that she’s been taken over by the Sunken.”

The Black Goat stares into space, peering into Victoria’s soul from across the Astral Plane.  _ Trapped in a void, guarded by the ninety-seven Sunken. _ “I cannot help her yet. I am sorry.”

Kate looks around and softly informs her, “You’re a God, you can help her. Victoria’s not the nicest person around but she’s our friend. She’s a person who needs our help, okay?”

“Indeed I could. But this isn’t my fight. What comes next is on her, though I have hope that she will prevail. Her survival, and the survival of those like her, are crucial to my plan.”

Dana asks, fed up with the Black Goat’s continued cruelties. “How’s she gonna help you? Again, she’s our friend and all, but she’s stubborn as a mule. And for once, I’d say she’s right.”

“She has done enough already, whether she knows it or not. And she will continue to help me, as I have helped her.” The faces of the heroes weave together a clear lack of understanding all across the board, so the Black Goat decides to explain: “There is a house, one of many. It will grow with time and care. These attributes exist within your friend, and others like her. They will act as the sanctuaries you reviled not long ago.”

“And if things don’t work out?”, asks Chloe.

“I don’t plan for failure. In my experience, it isn’t necessary. Now that you know what I am, I must bid you all farewell.”

Before Chloe can object, she and the other heroes fall through a portal under their feet back to the waking world. Courtesy of Alex and her trusty radio.

“What’s next?”, Alex asks.

The Black Goat settles on her throne, confident in the future. “Now, we watch… and we wait.”


	13. Out of Victoria's Head

Jessica looks down at Victoria as she lays in bed, still as a corpse. Alex assured her that she’s fine physically, Rachel Amber didn’t rough her up too badly. It’s what’s inside that’s in pain: the mind, controlled by the Sunken, and it shows with those glowing red eyes trained on her.

All she can do is hope for the best as she asks herself:  _ What’s brewing in that brain of hers? _

_ A solution _ , she prays.

* * *

_ This sucks. _ Victoria sighs as she looks around at the expanse of shadows surrounding her. In the darkness, glowing red eyes stalk her every move.

Fortunately, a light flutters down, a shimmer of hope seeking to save Victoria _ aaaand it just got devoured by one of the Sunken… again… for the fifth time in a row. _ “Why did I expect any better?”

_ Okay, none of this is gonna work. _ She gets up on her feet and wonders how she’ll get out of this.

“Don’t try it.”, says one of the ten Sunken guarding her at the moment. “We have crushed stronger souls. Not that it would matter, seeing as yours is so weak.”

“That hurts.”, Victoria retorts, trying to stifle her laughter.

She masks a chuckle in a deep breath, summoning a magazine into her hand. She reads it tiredly, intrigued by what it contains.

Bullets, obviously. She loads them into a gun of vaguely familiar design. She’s never really kept track of any firearm names, nor has she handled many guns before.  _ The harpoon was probably my first! _

She aims at the Sunken and fires at them, with the recoil startling her greatly, until the trigger goes  _ click _ . Ten down. Eighty-seven to go.

Judging by the loud mass of footsteps approaching, that would be them. Victoria looks around for a hiding spot but, being in a black void, it would seem she’s shit outta luck.

Another ten Sunken shadow-people manifest, marching towards Victoria with obvious murderous intent.

Fortunately, Victoria is there to save her.  _ Another _ Victoria, clad in black with messy hair on her head. And she’s armed with fingers made of knives. “Let’s dance, motherfuckers!”, she shouts while tearing through the Sunken with moves like those of a well-trained dancer. Dark limbs go flying as the demons are destroyed.

As the new ten Sunken lie on the ground, torn to ribbons, our Victoria looks at her dark doppelganger and laughs in amazement. “That was awesome!”

The dark Victoria smirks with her arms crossed smugly. “Pssh! It’s nothing!”  _ What am I supposed to call her? _ “Oh, I’m your Shadow.”

Our Victoria is a bit confused: “Like… the Hedgehog?”

The Shadow nods her head, confused as to why that’s the first thing that popped into Victoria’s head. “Sure. Whatever floats your boat.” Looking around at the shredded Sunken, she states, “Let’s get outta here.”

* * *

Jessica holds Victoria’s hand, unbothered by how cold her touch feels. “Victoria, you have to wake up. Please.”

_ Her glowing red eyes mean nothing _ , she tells herself.  _ Just a mask to hide her away. But she’ll get out. I know she will. With everything she’s been through, she can fight her way out. _

She thinks back to when they first met; back when Victoria was a baby, the Chases tasked Jessica with babysitting their daughter while they went to some art show in Paris. When she arrived, she saw hope in her eyes and heard joy in her laughter. It never left her, she could tell, despite  _ everything _ that happened to her in Arcadia Bay, everything after, and everything right now, she knows that little girl was still Victoria through it all.

Jessica kisses her on the cheek and holds her tight. “You can beat this, Victoria. I believe in you.”

“She might, but it’ll be too late.” Jessica turns around and sees a hooded figure - a woman, judging by her voice - standing in the doorway. “Step away from her.”

Jessica eyes the stranger. Just by her stance, she can tell she means trouble. “Are you the off-brand ‘Power Rangers’ villain the Black Goat sent for her?”

The stranger approaches slowly, step by step. “My name’s Lisbeth Fischer. Step aside.”

Jessica rolls her eyes before she remembers: “Oh, I’ve heard of you. You’re the crazy Reverend bitch from Haven Point. I heard about you on the news.”

Lisbeth grimaces, annoyed. “How flattering.” She procures a dagger from her cloak and shows it off for Jessica to see. “Last warning, stand aside now… unless you want to end up like her.”

Jessica stands tall, putting herself between Victoria and Fischer. She raises her fists and taunts Lisbeth: “Try me.”

* * *

Victoria looks up at the stars, past the clouds forming in the sky, as Shadow leads her down a long dirt path. “So, um, Shadow…”

“Yeah?”

“Where are we going?”

Shadow points to a mansion in the distance just a few minutes away. “We must make some sense of this place. The Animus awaits.”

“The who?”

Shadow grins and tells Victoria, “I love that band.” She starts humming one of their hits -  _ Baba O’Riley _ \- and it sounds mellow.  _ I’m a good singer! _

It shifts softly from hums to acapella; not from Shadow’s tongue but instead from the skies above. The two look up and raise their fists upon seeing who is floating down from the clouds: “Ah shit, it’s the Black Goat!”

As she sets hoof on the dirt, the Black Goat passively raises her hand to halt them. “Do not bother attempting to fight. You will merely be wasting time.”

Victoria shakes her head, pissed to see her perceived adversary. “And you aren’t? I assume you’re stalling for the Sunken…”

The Black Goat blinks and answers, “You assume incorrectly. I have frozen them, though not forever.”

Shadow crosses her arms and asks, “And how are we supposed to believe you?” The Black Goat reveals where the Sunken are standing with a wave of her hand.  _ They’re right behind her! _

Victoria nearly falls on her butt as she steps back and exclaims, “SHIT! Okay, we believe you!”

“Good. Now, let me introduce myself. I am the Black Goat: Mistress of Nightmares and Ruler of the Astral Plane.”

Victoria takes a deep breath and asks her, “What do you want?”

“To enlighten you of a coming storm.” She fans away the clouds in the sky, revealing Rachel Amber blankly controlling a raging tornado. “Miss Amber is heading for your Half-Full House on the Astral Plane. It would be in both of our best interests for you to intercept and defeat her.”

Victoria cuts her off to ask for some clarification: “The what House?”

“The name you came up with in your head for this little house.”

Victoria strokes her chin (as does Shadow). “Damn, I’m good.”

The Black Goat looks down and turns the dirt path to gold. “Continue down this path and you shall be reunited with your Animus. Once with joined hands, the three of you shall become one once more.” She shoves the two forward in the direction they’re headed and tells them, “Good luck.”

“How am I supposed to trust you?” Victoria turns around to ask her, but she’s gone. The Sunken are still there, frozen in place. “Wonderful.”

She turns forward and begins walking ahead with Shadow.  _ Follow the yellow brick road. _

She looks at Shadow with a smile, who jovially rebukes walking: “No, I’m not skipping with you. I’m sprinting!”

“Good call.” And so, the two sprint down the golden path to the Animus.

They arrive and ring the golden doorbell on the mansion door. It opens and the proprietor, an older Victoria dressed in a white suit, answers. “Good day to you two. Please come in.” The two walk in, though our Victoria spots the Sunken unfreeze as the doors close behind the three of them. “May I interest you all in some tea?”

Shadow balls her fists up and asks, “This ain’t a trap, is it?”

The older Victoria sighs, “Not at all, though I understand the apprehension.”

Victoria looks back and hurriedly follows the two as they travel to the living room of the mansion. “So you’re the Animus, and you’re the Shadow. What does that make me?”

“You’re your Self.”, says the older Victoria, the Animus, as she picks up a steaming hot teapot.

“I figured.” The Animus pours a cup of tea for herself and a cup for Victoria.  _ The Shadow doesn’t want any. I mean, just look at her…  _ “Wait, am I just myself in my  _ mind’s eye _ or am I, like, my _ self _ ?”

The Animus explains, “You are Victoria Chase. You lead us with your body; you have my intuition and her attitude.” She points to the Shadow and herself before continuing, “We are merely pieces of your mind, fractured by the Sunken menace.”

Highly confused, Victoria takes a sip of the tea she has been offered.  _ Hm. Doesn’t burn… and tastes good! I might have to take Kate up on one of those old ‘tea date’ offers. _

Not as confused, the Shadow declares, “Okay, enough chit-chat, let’s get this show on the road!”

“Yes, please.”, the Animus agrees as she puts down her cup. “Hold hands. Let us rejoin as one.” They do so, and the winds in the living room enter them as they conjoin: six arms turn to two, as do the legs, and the three Victorias return to being of one mind.

Victoria Chase gets back up on her feet, feeling more whole than earlier. Like a hole in her head has been filled. “Black Goat, you there?” No response.  _ Fine, I’ll make my own music. _

* * *

Outside, two of the remaining seventy-seven Sunken bang their fists on the door at once. “Open up, Chase. We won’t ask twice.”

Suddenly, one of them hears something. Putting their ear up to the door, they ask, “Do you hear that?”

A golden chainsaw slices through the front door, impaling the curious Sunken and horrifically dispersing his essence. Before the other Sunken can truly react, a pot of hot tea splashes on his face, melting him outright.

Victoria steps out of the mansion, wielding weapons of gold - guns, swords, tools, all the toys she can carry - and glares at her seventy-five opponents awaiting her. “All right, you sorry sailors… LET’S PARTY!”, she screams as she revs up the chainsaw and leaps into the Sunken horde.

She spins, she leaps, she punches, she kicks, she rips, she tears through the crowd of demons.

At the end of the path, the Admiral of the Sunken feels his forces deplete at the hands of Victoria. “Playtime’s over. Let’s get this over with.” He opens himself up and absorbs the remaining Sunken; twenty-five in total. They become one and run towards Victoria, swinging at her with enough force to pulverize steel.

Carefully, Victoria dodges their attacks, telling how deadly a mistake will be just by the sound of the wind being torn through with the Sunken’s hits. Whenever they leave themselves open, Victoria shoots at their body with a golden shotgun she manifested.

Hit by hit, the Sunken grows weaker, though still striking like a ferocious beast.

And yet, with every hit, the Sunken slowly begin to yield, unable to keep themselves focused.

Finally, as the Sunken die out and the Admiral is left as the last of his warriors, he collapses on his back. “Mercy!”, he begs with a hand raised.

Victoria looks down on him and shakes her head. She pulls out a golden greatsword and raises it. For just a second, she feels another presence within her, aiding her in this justice. “Clarissa says hi.”

She plunges the sword into the Sunken, banishing him and his ilk from her mind and bringing herself back to her body’s full function.

* * *

Lisbeth is tossed across the room into a cabinet, which falls on top of her. However, she pushes it off of herself and growls at Jessica, readying her dagger. “You think you can save the girl?” She charges at her…

“She’s done enough for me!” Victoria jumps out of bed - herself, no more red glowing eyes - and takes Lisbeth down with her. As the two struggle, Victoria manifests a baton and slams it against Lisbeth’s head three times, knocking her out. “It’s time I returned the favor.”, she says as she gets up and dusts herself off.

“Victoria!” Jessica rushes over and wraps her up in a great big hug.  _ I’m convinced she’s about to start crying. _

Victoria lets a wide grin grow on her face. “I missed you too, Jess.”

“I’m sorry I let you go down there alone, I should’ve joined you, should’ve helped-”

Victoria pats her on the back soothingly, reassuring her, “You’re good, Jess. Trust me, there’s no way you could have known.” As the two separate from the hug, she looks down at Lisbeth and chuckles. “Good work on this crazy hag.”

“Put me down!”, Lisbeth cries as Victoria lifts her up by her collar.

Victoria glares at her, knowing of her evil. “I will. But first, you need to do me a favor. Go back to Rachel Amber, and tell her that Victoria Chase is coming for her.”

Lisbeth laughs aloud. “She’s already on her way. Look out the window.” Victoria and Jessica walk over to the nearest window where they look outside and see the stormy skies pouring down rain. In the distance, approaching rapidly, a tornado perhaps more powerful than the one that knocked down Arcadia Bay is set to collide with the Half-Full House. “Her wrath is upon us…”

“Even better.” Victoria turns back around and exits the room, dragging Lisbeth with her.

Jessica follows quickly and asks as she heads downstairs, “Vic, what are you going to do?”

“I’m finishing this, Jess. Once and for all.” She reaches the first floor and walks up to the front door, where the final battle awaits outside. “Lock the doors and stay away from the windows. Rachel Amber’s not coming here with her goddamn tornado.”


	14. Long Live The Queen

The Storm marches on, undeterred as nature and Rachel will it. It blots out the skies under its black clouds, issuing its manifesto of uncontainable malice for all to see.

As Rachel stares down the House in her way, she sees someone coming. She catches the projectile person and sees who they are. “Reverend Fischer? What brings you here?”

Lisbeth, dazed out of her mind, tells Rachel everything: “Master! She knows you’re coming! She’s going to try and fight you!”

Rachel shrugs her shoulders before waving her hand along the Storm she is commandeering. “Calm down. We both know how this will go: despite her efforts, Victoria will fall. I mean, just look at what happened in Wet-Dry World.”

“Yeah, speaking of, uh… she’s defeated the Sunken.”

Rachel huffs in surprise. “None at all left in her mind?”

Lisbeth nods her head, a cross look on her face. She’s surprised by the proud laugh Rachel lets out, and even more so when she is tossed aside seconds later so as to not distract from the imminent death and destruction.

“Then this should make things interesting!”

And she marches on…

* * *

The Brothers hop down the stairs, ready for battle with the front door right in their line of sight. Mario cheerfully exclaims, “Let’s-a go!”

From the living room, Alex slides in front of them and shakes her head. “Sorry, Brothers. This battle is for Victoria to fight.” She sighs, worried for this perfect stranger whom the Black Goat trusts. “… Alone.”

Both Brothers mumble to each other over this, accepting Alex’s word. Luigi asks, “Is-a the Chimera going to-a help her at least?”

Alex looks away, knowing their role and what it will do to Victoria. “Later. But worse comes to worse, you two and Jessica are in charge of evac.”

* * *

Victoria stretches her arms, hoping to get some good use out of them when she gets to knocking Rachel’s teeth in. _That Storm’s looking like a good place to start._

With a pep in her step, she focuses her mental magic, crafting a tool that will deal with the approaching tornado. She lays her eyes on the giant golden slingshot she used to fling Fischer away and imagines something else in its stead…

The slingshot transforms into an electric fan, filled with the charge to blow Rachel away, and the switch to control it lands in Victoria’s hands. She cranks the power up to eleven and the winds begin howling.

From within the vortex, Rachel feels the pushback as the breeze turns against her, and she grins as she spots Victoria. With the closing of her fist, the ground under the fan crumbles, knocking it over and aiming it right at her enemy.

As Victoria is sent flying, a glider manifests onto her back and she soars upwards into the air. Now flying high, she flies the glider in Rachel’s direction and imagines a missile on it as the cherry on top. Once she’s close enough, Victoria ejects from the glider and imagines a parachute on her back before steering herself away from the tornado.

The explosive rocks the tornado, loosening it up and sending Rachel into an uncontrollable spin. She works quickly to regain her composure, setting her sights back on the House.

Victoria lands at the House and sees the Storm growing more violent, no doubt a mirror into Rachel’s status. Now knowing that she’s controlling the tornado, Victoria summons a weapon from the heavens in the form of an anvil aiming for Rachel’s pretty little head.

It manages to catch Rachel astoundingly off-guard, sending her plummeting down the vortex. Enraged, she grabs hold of the anvil and tosses it back at Victoria.

With some quick thinking, Victoria manages to summon another giant slingshot, catching the anvil and sending it flying right back at Rachel, knocking her out of the tornado completely.

Without a host, the tornado begins to lose steam. Rachel notices this and slows herself down so that she can leap back into the vortex, though she’s still descending too fast to properly slow herself down.

Within seconds, the tornado begins to grow still and fray away, much to Rachel’s dismay. She screams in rage at the dismantling of her plot before falling into the ground.

Peering through a spyglass, Victoria watches and wonders Rachel’s next move. Suddenly, she almost hits her in the guise of a fist made out of rocks jumping out at her, though she manages to jump away from the attack in time.

The fist shifts, turning back into Rachel’s human form. Her hands catch aflame and shoot at Victoria, who blocks the attack with a golden shield.

The fires are strong, but Victoria is stronger. She pushes against the flames, inching closer each second. Once she’s within arm's reach, she summons a golden baton in her free hand and slams it down onto Rachel’s head.

Rachel screeches as she grabs Victoria by the throat and leaps into the House with her. They land in the living room through the front window, and now they have an audience. With fire in her eyes, she screams at her enemy, “I’m going to kill you, Victoria!”

Mario and Luigi leap into action, landing their boots on Rachel’s head. She lets go of Victoria and roars at the Brothers, her face distorting into something disturbingly non-human. Her anger isn’t soothed when Luigi decides to throw a punch at her face.

Seeing that she’s distracted, Victoria summons a golden knife and plunges it into Rachel’s back. “It’s me you want, you bitch.” She hops onto Rachel, now manic and deranged, and starts riding her like a horse through the Living Room, up the stairs, and down the second floor hallway. _Jesus, are these people in for a shoooooow!_

Looking forward, the end of the hall’s growing closer and closer. Victoria braces for impact as Rachel crashes through the wall, sending them both flying out of the House. The two land outside, clearly tired. Unfortunately, Victoria doesn’t have years of being an astral being on her side, meaning that Rachel has the upper hand.

Rachel rises to her feet quickly while Victoria struggles to get back up, swearing under her breath. Her hand turns into water and sharpens into a blade. Seeing that Victoria’s still down, she doesn’t hesitate to kick her in the gut while she can.

Victoria laughs, even as Rachel pushes her over and grabs her by the throat. She asks with a mocking smile on her face, “Is that the best you’ve got?”

“Goodbye, Victoria.” She raises the sword…

… and an arrow plunges into her shoulder, sending her stumbling backwards. Victoria looks up at the sender and sighs in relief once she sees her.

Max flies in with blue butterfly wings on her back, and a bow in her hands. “Let’s take her on, Vic!”, she triumphantly declares as she kicks Rachel in the face with her landing. “You alright?”

Victoria gets up and tells her, “I’ve been through worse.” _Thank you, Max…_

Max charges into battle while Victoria… doesn’t, as her feet have been buried into the dirt by Rachel. She quickly struggles to pull herself out while Max strikes Rachel with the bow over and over again.

As another strike is about to land, Rachel grabs the bow and rips it out of Max’s grip.

Max raises her hand to rewind and do over, but it is impaled with the bow by Rachel almost immediately. While she is busy doubling over in agony, Rachel punches her in the face and lifts her into the air in a bubble of wind. Knowing her presumed fate, Max taunts her: “Go on, kill me.”

“So you can jump into another clone body?” Rachel laughs in Max’s face as she brings the bubble closer. “Yeah. I’ve watched ‘Hardcore Henry’ too. Real clever; an extra out in addition to your time travel. Only problem is you’re so sloppy with them.” Max remembers the two bodies she left behind at the Hospital and in the Wet-Dry World. Rachel slams her against the House and cackles, enjoying the fear she can feel in her heart. “I was thinking of using the corpses you left behind as husks for the Sunken… Maybe sleeper cells to grab more people back on Earth?”

Victoria slams her golden shield against the back of Rachel’s head and pushes her away from Max. “You talk too much!”, she remarks, “Run, Max! I’ve got this!”

Before Max can respond, a triangular portal opens beneath her feet, sending her falling back into the waking world.

Victoria sets her sights back on Rachel and cracks her knuckles. 

“Enough horseplay, you bitch! Time to DIE!” A black antler - only one due to Max’s bow attacks - sprouts from Rachel’s skull and aims for Victoria.

This time however, she’s ready. She grabs the antlers and holds them away from her face. Still, she struggles as the antler pushes onward. _It’s getting closer…_

Rachel starts grinning from ear to ear as she feels Victoria slipping. “Yield.”

“No!” With a sudden burst of strength, the antler snaps in Victoria’s grip, bringing Rachel a great deal of pain. As the villain recoils in agony, Victoria rushes Rachel and plunges the antler into her heart. “NEVER!”

Rachel looks down at the antler piercing her heart and shakes. She looks back up at Victoria in disbelief before falling over. Coughing up black blood, she spits, “Fine. You win…”

“Good.”, Victoria says as she lifts Rachel up to her knees and cuffs her hands behind her back. Despite her wounds, it seems like she’ll live. _I guess I have to do everything myself._

As she stands out of Rachel’s sight, she feels a cold metal growing in her hand. It’s a gun made of gold, meant to kill. Quietly, carefully, she raises the gun up to the back of her head. _It’d be so easy_ , Victoria tells herself. _For all the people you’ve murdered…_

Her hands are shaking, her finger’s on the trigger… but she can’t do it. This wouldn’t be right. She sighs and the gun melts away, like ice on a hot summer’s day.

Instead, she pulls Rachel up to her feet and demands, “Get up!” _This is how it has to be. There has to be justice._

* * *

As the heroes rally together back in Seattle, Max falls out of a portal in the sky. She lands in Chloe’s arms, and the two look at each other all lovey-dovey.

“What happened?”, Chloe asks.

Max answers, “Victoria’s fighting Rachel. We need to get back in there.”

“How would we go about that?”, Chloe asks. She looks around at her fellow heroes and asks, “Does anyone here know how to open portals to the Astral Plane? Anyone?” The silence and confused looks tell her: “Nobody?”

“You don’t have to worry about that anymore.” A triangular portal opens and Victoria stands in the center of it. By her sides and on their knees are Rachel Amber and Lisbeth Fischer, both defeated and in cuffs.

Lisbeth is pushed out to the Waking World first, where she looks back at Victoria and screams, “Heathen! You will bring forth the end of days, for you have sided with the false deity and SINNED-”

Two soldiers shove her along, telling her, “Get a move on!”

Victoria rolls her eyes and continues. “Now behold, at long last: the Storm from Nowhere A.K.A. Rachel Amber.”

Rachel shrugs her shoulders with a smug look on her face. “Guilty as charged.”, she says as she is pushed forward by Victoria.

“WAIT!”, Max raises her hand and shouts before Rachel can step out of the portal.

Victoria pulls her back and away from the portal and asks, “Huh, what?”

“Don’t let her out!” Max shakes her head and explains: “She’s an astral being; if she’s let out, she’ll be out of our grasp, DON’T let her out!”

Rachel sucks her tongue, disappointed. “You didn’t have to ruin the surprise, Maxine.”

The heroes in the Waking World converse with one another, asking what can be done. Victoria herself asks the question, “Now what?”

Max looks down, trying to come up with a solution. “I don’t know.”

“Well, we’re definitely not letting her go.”

Rachel looks back at Victoria and suggests, “You might have to. I promise I’ll be a good-”

“Shut up.”, Victoria grumbles as she smacks Rachel in the back of the head. _Bitch…_

Suddenly, another voice speaks behind Victoria: “We’re ready.” She looks back and sees the Chimera, together as one.

A confused look crosses Victoria’s face. She looks at them and asks, “Ready for what?”

The Chimera points at Rachel and explains, “Her essence is loose. She needs us to keep her grounded in the Waking World.”

“What does… Oh God.”

The Chimera nod their head sadly. “This means goodbye, Vic.”

Panic starts to fill Victoria’s heart as she frantically shakes her head. “No. No, not again. You can’t do this! I won’t-” Her breathing grows hitched as tears form in her eyes. _It’s happening again. No no no no no._

The Chimera holds Victoria’s cheek, knowing her pain. “We may be apparitions, but we’re still a part of you. Based on your love alone, we will be strong enough to stabilize Rachel. At least until she can be given a body to take residence in.”

“But you… you can’t.”

The Chimera sigh as they hold Victoria in a hug. “There is no other way. Besides, we’re already dead.” They step away from the hug and tell her, “Look around, Victoria. Look at the people you have in your life. Look at all you’ve been able to accomplish without us.” _Jessica. Max, Chloe, Kate, Dana. The House. The Astral Plane. This life…_ “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Victoria crosses her arms in a bid to keep herself together. _This is how it has to be._ “Okay. Do it. Before I freak out here, just do it.”

The Chimera approach Rachel from behind and plant their hands - all four of them - on her forehead. They close their eyes and embrace the end as their essence transfers into Rachel. The antler in her heart melts and her aura grows fuller. Once their hands vanish, she knows it is done.

And suddenly, it hits her: the atrocities she’s committed, the lives she’s taken, the consequence of it all. And she starts sobbing as the voices of the dead - the victims of the Storm - speak to her at once, ringing around her skull. “No! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean for this! I didn’t wish for any of this!”

Victoria couldn’t give less of a damn. Harshly, she shoves Rachel out of the portal and tells the heroes outside, “Get her out of my sight.” Quickly, they comply.

Chloe steps into view, still holding Max in her arms despite her good health. “I, uh, have a feeling Rose is gonna be hella confused once we let her know her daughter’s back from the dead.” The three women laugh together, happy that this has all turned out fine.

“Thanks, Victoria.”

Victoria nods her head with a smirk on her face. “Sure thing, Max.”

Max’s laugh grows more nervous as she remembers what Victoria went through because of Rachel. “Look, about what you saw-”

“Your choice at the Lighthouse?” Victoria shrugs her shoulders, she’s not too upset. “Can’t say I blame you. I mean, literally, it was Rachel all along… You could’ve tried to save more people.”

Max sighs, knowing how right she is. “I know.”

“But I get it. It wasn’t your fault, Max. I seriously mean that.” The two smile at one another, happy to have reached an understanding. _There’s been enough fighting as it is._ “You two take care… Take care of everyone.”

Chloe raises her eyebrows and asks, “You’re not coming back?”

“No. Uh, not yet… I dunno. If anyone here wants to go, they’re free to do so, I’ll let them know. But I’m staying. There are people here who need my help… I need to be at this place. I hope you can understand.”

Chloe tries to wrap her head around that, knowing what her higher-ups want out of her. “I mean, some people back at the Bureau are gonna have some questions for you.”

“Can they mail it to me?”

Chloe chuckles and tells her, “We’ll see what we can have them do.”

Max waves Victoria goodbye, wishing her well with that smile on her face. “Take care, Victoria!” The two lovers walk away, happy to report the mission a success… _Wait, did they take care of that Old Man yet?_

“You too.” Victoria looks back at the waking world, pain still in her heart, as her friends roll out and the portal slowly closes.


	15. New Normal

The people of the House welcome her to applause. Victoria forces a smile onto her face, though she knows she’s gonna burst into tears the second she’s alone.

Going along with the charade, she modestly bows before them all. “This is awesome. Thanks. Yeah- if you wanna go home, Alex here can open up a portal to take you all home! It’ll probably be Seatt-”

Before she can finish that sentence, the mood of the room has already shifted - cheer has turned to “Good, get me outta here!” - as have their gazes from Victoria to Alex. They swarm around Alex, collectively asking to leave the Astral Plane. “Good. Great.”

Jessica approaches Victoria with a big smile and a big hug too. She asks her, “Vic, are you ready to go?”

The smile slowly fades as she sees the sadness in Victoria’s eyes. “No.” She wraps her arms around Jessica, still fighting back the waterworks, and she elaborates, “They’re gone. Courtney and Taylor…”

Jessica sighs as she holds Victoria close. “Oh, no. I’m so sorry.” Seeing as the crowd is distracted with Alex, she tells her, “Let’s get out of here.”

The two walk up the stairs and reach Victoria’s room. Jessica sits with her as she starts sobbing loudly. “There, there. It’s okay.”, she tells her as she strokes her blonde hair.

Victoria tells through the stream of tears, “I was so fucking busy with all this Black Goat shit, and they were here without me! My one chance to see them again, and I fucking blew it!”

“No, no, don’t say that, that’s not true. They came back because of how much you loved them, Victoria. And look at what you did for them. You saved the world!”

Victoria scoffs through her sobs and she asks Jessica sarcastically, “Did I? Shit’s still the same out there. Covid’s still fucking shit up, the government’s still fucking shit up, this whole Astral whatever thing’s probably gonna fuck shit up, I still don’t feel good at all…”

Jessica shushes her, hoping to stop her.  _ All this stuff she’s saying, it’s not right!  _ “You stopped the Dream Demons. You caught Rachel Amber, and y’know what? I couldn’t be more proud of you. Max and Chloe, and Kate and Dana, and- and everyone here, I know for sure, is so proud of you!” Carefully, she rocks Victoria back and forth in their hug. “Don’t you realize that, Vic? You’re a hero.”

“It doesn’t feel like it.”, Victoria says as she wipes tears away from her face.

Jessica laughs, knowing that Victoria’s getting better bit by bit. “Be that as it may, you’ve done great things here. And it’s all because of Courtney and Taylor. Your love for them, and - I believe - their love for you.”

“To tell you the truth, I’m not really following all too well.” She weakly laughs with Jessica for a few seconds. “But I think I get it… Kinda. It’s just all so much.”

“Do you wanna sleep it off?”

“Sure.” Victoria yawns, exhausted from the absolute  _ everything _ that has unfolded in the past few hours alone. She lies down on the bed and already feels herself drifting to sleep. “Thanks, Jess.”

“No problem.” Before leaving the room, she makes sure to throw a blanket over Victoria, who graciously smiles under its soft warmth.

* * *

_ Rachel Amber sits in a cell, though she’s far from alone as she is joined by the spirits of Arcadia Bay. Those nearly two thousand people she killed with her Storm. _

_ Behind the glass that contains her, Max and Chloe watch her, knowing that this whole deal isn’t over. After all, who’s going to take care of that Old Man that is still zapping the people of the Waking World into the land of dreams? _

~~~

_ Kate Marsh and Dana Ward return to Beaver Creek with ease, their heads still spinning from all the adrenaline the Astral Plane brought them. One thing’s for certain: there’s a whole world out there that has just been opened. _

_ And that makes them happy. Maybe there is a Heaven after all. Maybe make that two: the one beyond the Earth, and the one they call the moments they share together. _

~~~

_ Most of the people Victoria rescued have opted to go back home, thankful for their savior’s intervention. Lyla, Chris, Sarah Lee and the Drifters are all among them. Of course, there are still people missing and people who have chosen to stay, but at least the day is saved. _

_ They’re gonna have to answer a lot of questions from a lot of people in black suits however. Busy days, busy days… _

~~~

_ There are also a lot of people still roaming the Astral Plane, building houses of their own all throughout the land (so long as they aren’t at the mercy of some other Dream Demons). They’d appreciate a neighbor calling in, though they doubt anyone’s listening. _

_ Who knows? _

_ Maybe it’s up to our hero to change that! _

* * *

Victoria wakes up with her body refreshed, still feeling the tiredness on her face. She gets up on her feet and walks over to the bathroom. After splashing some water on her face and combing her hair, she looks at herself in the mirror.  _ Hey, good lookin’. _

She skips merrily down the stairs as she enjoys the peace and quiet.  _ Looks like everybody’s gone… Well, almost everybody. _ She spots Mario and Luigi sweeping away some dust, and she summons a broom for herself to help them with it. She dances along to the rhythm of the sweep and pushes the dust out the front door with ease.

In the kitchen, she summons herself a mushroom omelette and some orange juice, and prepares four extra dishes for Jessica, Alex, and the Brothers.  _ I hope they like it! _

After grabbing the phone and bringing it over to the living room window, Victoria holds it on her lap as she takes a bite out of her meal. She looks outside and sees the Sun blazing bright along the clear blue day.  _ This is what I fight for. _ She smiles as the light shines down on her, embracing her as the Astral Plane’s protector… or one of many, at least.

The phone rings. And she answers.


End file.
